At 44.1, the seasonally adjusted Markit UK Household Finance Index (HFI) pointed to a further decline in financial wellbeing during November.
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Nonetheless, despite remaining below the average recorded so far in 2015 (44.6), the headline index rose since October (43.8) to a fourmonth high.
Households’ financial wellbeing was supported by relatively subdued inflation perceptions in November. There were further expansions in workplace activity and income from employment, although worries about job security persisted.
Meanwhile, financial strains were evident across all regions covered by the survey, with households in the South West the most downbeat. Data broken down by job category highlighted a similar trend, with pessimism signalled in all but one of the monitored sectors.
The exception was utilities/energy/transport, where households signalled an improvement in financial wellbeing for the first time in the series history.
The seasonally adjusted index measuring the outlook for financial wellbeing over the next 12 months climbed back above the 50.0 no-change threshold in November. Rising from 49.1 in October to 50.4, the figure signalled positive sentiment for just the second time since April.
That said, the degree of optimism was only slight overall. Private sector workers were more positive regarding financial prospects over the year-ahead (53.1), while those employed in the public sector were less downbeat (48.5) than in the prior month.
UK households reported another increase in workplace activity during November, continuing the trend observed throughout the past three-anda-half years. The rate of expansion was stronger than the average over the current sequence, having accelerated from October’s recent low.
Activity rose in all of the surveyed job sectors, with IT/telecoms seeing the fastest growth.
Income from employment rose further in November, extending the survey-record sequence of pay growth to 11 months. The latest increase remained modest, however, and was in line with the average since the start of the year.
Contrasting with the upward trends in activity and wages, households felt insecure regarding their job security during November. That said, the degree of concern was the lowest since July.
Price pressures eased in November, according to the respective index for inflation perceptions. The reading slipped to a seven-month low (62.2), and was one of the lowest since the series began in March 2009.
Meanwhile, the index for expected living costs over the year ahead posted 80.0, up slightly from 79.6 in October. This was below the long-run trend (88.0), albeit higher than the average so far in 2015 (78.0). ■