Global consumer confidence returned to a pre-recession level in the first quarter of 2014 - but Australia dropped to its lowest score on record.
That is the finding from the latest consumer confidence survey from Neilsen, which recorded global consumer confidence at its highest score since first-quarter 2007.
Consumer confidence in Australia (89 points) however, declined six index points in the first quarter, the lowest score on record since Nielsen began measuring consumer confidence in 2005.
More than two in five Australians (44 per cent) felt mired in recession—up from 31 percent in fourth-quarter 2013.
Meanwhile, The global index score of 96 represents a two-point increase from fourth-quarter 2013 and a three-point increase from a year ago (Q1 2013).
The Nielsen consumer confidence index measures perceptions of local job prospects, personal finances and immediate spending intentions.
Consumer confidence levels above and below a baseline of 100 indicate degrees of optimism and pessimism, respectively.
Neilsen Pacific managing director Chris Percy said local results reflected concerns about the country's economic outlook.
These stemmed from recent announcements of significant cost reduction and off-shoring activities in the manufacturing sector in the back of 2013 and in the first quarter of 2014.
“These latest results reflect Australians’ increasing concern around job prospects and the perception of the state of their personal finances,” said Percy.
Three-in-five (61 per cent) Australians are concerned about their job prospects over the next 12 months, up 13 percentage points from quarter four and up 10 points from quarter one last year.
Close to half (46 per cent) of Australian respondents regarded the state of their personal finances to be ominous, up seven percentage points from Q4 2013.
The Nielsen findings revealed that Aussie consumers are future-proofing their assets in line with this sentiment shift.
This includes increases across discretionary spend categories measured such as home improvement projects (+7 percentage points), putting spare cash into retirement funds (+7pp) and investing in shares of stocks and mutual funds (+2pp).
“While consumers are being smart with any discretionary spend and investing for the future or paying off debt, we are still seeing an increase in consumers who say they don’t have any spare cash (now one-in-five or 19 per cent) – this has nearly doubled since Q1 2010," Percy said.
"Consumers are cautious about their current ability to spend, therefore product offerings which meet consumers’ needs remains the key opportunity."
Consumer confidence in Asia-Pacific increased in eight of 14 markets in the first quarter, was flat in three and declined in three.
The region’s biggest quarterly index increase was six points, in both India (121) and Hong Kong (111).
India’s index rise returns the score to a fourth-quarter 2012 level after several quarters of declining performance.
Consumer confidence in the Philippines (116) and Thailand (108), as well as Indonesia (124) and China (111), were among the highest index scores of 60 countries measured.
The Nielsen Global Survey of Consumer Confidence and Spending Intentions measures consumer confidence, major concerns, and spending intentions among more than 30,000 respondents with Internet access in 60 countries.