Thomson Reuters IPSOS PCSI

It is an Ipsos monthly survey of consumer attitudes toward the local economy, personal finances, savings and big purchases. Ipsos Public Affairs conducts and calculates it on the Global Advisor online platform from 1,000+ Australian adults. Thomson Reuters served as exclusive distributor, not researcher.

Its current name is LSEG/Ipsos Primary Consumer Sentiment Index, first reported each month by LSEG. The Australian sample covers ages 16-64 in 2017-2018 documents and 16-74 in the later methodology. It tracks feelings only, not hard data like retail sales, jobs counts or GDP. Sister surveys with other names or scales, like Westpac-Melbourne Institute or ANZ-Roy Morgan, use different methods and must not be mixed.

It appears monthly around mid-month, with no fixed weekday, clock time or time zone. Responses are usually collected over about 14 days spanning the end of one calendar month and the start of the release month. Each release shows the headline plus 4 sub-indices with point changes, 12-month charts, a country note, downloadable country PDFs and all-country rankings.

The publisher states no revision policy. Monthly numbers use single-month data only, while separate rolling averages blend 45%, 35% and 20% across 3 months, so never compare the two. The publisher reads direction in points: higher means more confidence and lower means less, with no buy/sell guidance and no boom-bust line.

The headline blends 4 weighted parts, each capturing a different slice of household mood.

• Jobs: current job security, outlook on job security and past view of job security.
• Expectations: perceived economic outlook combining personal and community views.
• Investment: perceived investment climate: comfort with major and other household purchases plus ability to invest or save.
• Current Conditions: perceived current personal finances.

In June 2017 the headline was 50.4, down 1.1 points from 51.5 in May 2017, hiding wide gaps inside. Fieldwork ran May 26 to June 9, 2017. Jobs stood at 61.0 (down 1.1), Expectations at 57.8 (down 0.3), Investment at 42.6 (down 1.4) and Current Conditions at 40.2 (down 1.4).

Australians felt secure in jobs yet weak in current finances, a 20.8-point gap inside one 50.4 headline. The 12-month range was only 47.7 to 51.5, so a 1-point wiggle was normal noise, not a turning point. May 2017 had risen 0.5 points and July 2017 fell 0.7 points.

1. Ask: 11 questions cover the economy, personal finances, purchase comfort, job security and job-loss experience; the later list has 10.
2. Split: responses divide into Top Box (reward) and Bottom Box (penalty) counts.
3. Value: Shapely Value Analysis (the publisher's spelling) creates reward and penalty values per question.
4. Weight: magnitude equals reward minus penalty (0.60 minus 0.40 gives 0.20); Importance equals its share of total magnitude. Top weight equals reward divided by magnitude, and Bottom weight equals penalty divided by magnitude.
5. Score: question value equals Importance times Top weight times Top % minus Bottom weight times Bottom %. Example: reward 0.60, penalty 0.40, Importance 0.10, weights 3.0 and 2.0, with 55% Top and 30% Bottom, give 10.5 points.
6. Aggregate: sub-indices group question values by theme, then the headline aggregates the 4 weighted sub-indices.
7. Benchmark, weight and precision: levels anchor to 100 in January 2010. Raw data use census weights matching the population mix, with no seasonal adjustment, and Australia 1,000+ interviews carry about ±3.0 points of Bayesian credibility.