Cabinet Office: Economy Watchers Index Down for Sixth Consecutive Month

October 9, 2007
By Ken Worsley

Each month, the Cabinet Office publishes its Economy Watchers Index, which is the result of surveys of workers whose positions are highly sensitive to current economic conditions, such as taxi and truck drivers, sales staff at department stores, restaurant owners, and operators of other retail shops.

The final score for this month’s survey fell 1.2 points, to 42.9. This was the sixth consecutive month that the score was down. A figure below 50 means that pessimists outnumber the optimists in terms of economic conditions. The survey takes into account the opinions of 2,000 workers, who are asked to compare their perception of the economy now against three months ago.

Despite recent statistics showing that retail sales were on the increase in August, the retail subindex fell 2.2 points to 40.4. The largest move down, however, was seen amongst those workers in the dining and drinking industries. That subindex fell 7 points, to land at 36.3, the lowest score in the index. In April, that category stood at 48.8.

Filed Under Cabinet Office, Economic Reports, Economy Watchers