Men are a lot more confident than women about the state of the economy and their quality of life.
A bi-annual global survey by credit card company MasterCard found that consumer confidence for men was 22 points higher than women, a widening of 10 points in just 6 months.
The MasterCard Index of Consumer Confidence measures 5 factors which include jobs, regular income, the economy, quality of life and the stock market, and ranks them on a scale of 1 to 100.
Men were much more confident about the economy (66.3 vs 34.1), employment (66.3 vs 38.2), the stock market (70.5 vs 38.2), and quality of life (50.6 vs 33.7) with both sexes the most confident about having a regular income (78.5 vs 73.2).
"Our latest research indicates that Kiwi women have a much more cautious outlook on the next six months than their male counterparts," said MasterCard's NZ country manager Peter Chisnall.
Mr Chisnall said that overall Kiwis' positive feeling about having a regular income may be a reflection of an improving labour market and feeling they have a good level of job security.
Confidence in the Auckland job market was particularly high at 80.4.
"With low interest rates available for lending and the city experiencing a housing boom, these factors are likely to be contributing to many people feeling more wealthy from an asset perspective," he says.
New Zealand is ranked at 9th overall in Asia-Pacific, two places above Australia but below the Asia-Pacific average.
Between June and July 2016, 8,746 respondents, aged between 18 to 64 in 17 Asia Pacific markets, were asked to give a six-month outlook on five economic factors.
Newshub.
