(Australian Associated Press)

Last week’s unexpectedly strong jobs data has failed to boost Australians’ faith in the economy.

Consumer confidence was unchanged last week, remaining well below average, despite the unemployment rate falling 0.1 percentage points in February to an eight-year low of 4.9 per cent.

The latest ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence report, based on face-to-face interviews with 1,000 Australians conducted last weekend, suggested the good news had made no impact.

“With persistent weakness in the housing market, and little good news from offshore, either on the economic or geopolitical front, households seem fairly downbeat,” ANZ senior economist Felicity Emmett said on Tuesday.

“Whether this is a new normal or a temporary lull remains to be seen.”

The number of Australians who think it’s a good time to buy a major household item did tick upward slightly after three consecutive falls, but was still well below average.