Unemployment, standard of living... After a stable summer, household morale declines slightly in September

Household morale in France deteriorated slightly in September. The approximately 2,000 households interviewed by telephone were less optimistic about their financial situation, their standard of living and the evolution of unemployment, said INSEE (national institute of statistics) on Wednesday.

The indicator reflecting household confidence stood at 83 points, two points lower than in June, July and August, when it remained stable. A level that remains "well below" its long-term average (100), says INSEE.

INSEE synthetic consumer confidence indicator in September 2023

Financial situations judged more negatively

The outlook for their financial situation is judged more negatively than in August (-1 point), as is their past financial situation (-2 points). On the other hand, households are more optimistic about the opportunity to save (+ 2 points): in detail, they are "slightly" more confident in their future savings capacity (+ 1 point), but less confident (-1 point) than in August, when the index had gained 4 points, on their current savings capacity.

With regard to the economic context in France, fewer households believe that the situation will improve over the next twelve months (-1 point). They are also less likely to consider that their standard of living has improved over the last twelve months (-3 points), to a level that "is approaching its low point of May 2023".

Fears about the evolution of unemployment are increasing (+ 4 points) "for the third consecutive month". Nevertheless, they remain below their long-term average. In the face of inflation, even more households (+ 3 points) think that prices will accelerate in the next 12 months, even if this trend slows down compared to August (+ 12 points compared to July).