Bag-laden shoppers jam the Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto, Saturday December 15, 2012.J.P. MOCZULSKI/The Globe and Mail
The Conference Board of Canada says consumer confidence fell last month amid concerns about the strength of the job market.
The consumer confidence index fell 2.2 points to 80.8 in February, with the board noting the economy shed almost 22,000 jobs in January according to Statistics Canada.
While the slip was attributed to concerns about future job market conditions, the board said there was little change last month in Canadian attitudes about their prospects for future income.
Some 25 per cent of respondents said they expected their family to be better off financially in six months' time – up 0.4 percentage points from January. That was offset by 15 per cent who said they expected their family to be worse off.
There was, however, an improvement in Canadians' attitudes about making major purchases. Some 42 per cent of respondents indicated it was a good time to make a big ticket purchase, up 2.9 percentage points from January.
Across the country, consumer confidence fell in every region except for British Columbia – which saw a rise of 1.2 percentage points.