With the latest GDP figures indicating that the improvement in the UK’s economy is picking up pace, YouGov has created an infographic charting consumers’ journey on the road to recovery.
It looks back over the past four and a half years, from the dark days at the start of 2009 to the end of Q3 2013. Since the Household Economic Activity Tracker (HEAT) began it has seen a recession, a change in government, stagnant growth, a Royal wedding and the Eurozone crisis among many other events. YouGov’s data shows how consumers have reacted to specific events, looking at how the sharp downturn and slow recovery have been seen by real people across the country.
Each month we have spoken to over 6,500 of our panellists about how they see the economy and measured how real world happenings have affected them in their day-to-day lives. Because we ask for people’s views each day we can get a detailed picture of how households across the country have reacted to things going on in the economy.
Click to view full infographic (Q1 2009 - Q3 2013)
Every month, YouGov and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) take what our panelists tell us about their household’s economic activity and produce an analysis of long-term trends looking at how consumers relate to the real economy. Covering topics such as how people feel about their job security, business activity in their workplace and the value of their house, the HEAT report shows both the direction of consumer confidence and also the underlying trends behind it.
Stephen Harmston, Head of Syndicated Reports at YouGov, says:
Our daily tracking data about how consumers interact with the economy over the past four years paints a fascinating picture. The relationship between ordinary people and the economy is a complex one. Given consumer spending accounts for over 60% of GDP, how consumers feel about their economic circumstance has a large role in shaping the direction of the economy over the long-term. At the same time, specific events play a role in shaping short-term the public’s perceptions such as the impact of things like the VAT hike and Olympics have on consumer confidence. As the image shows, it’s been a long journey to get to where we are. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for improvements in the economy and overall consumer confidence to be felt in people’s pockets.
