American consumers are feeling less confident as concerns about jobs take center stage
American consumers are feeling less confident this month and concerns about jobs rose significantly
WASHINGTON — American consumers are feeling less confident this month as concerns about jobs rose significantly.
The Conference Board, a business research group, said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell to 98.7 in September, from 105.6 in August. It was the biggest month-to-month decline since August of 2021.
The survey was conducted before the Federal Reserve announced a bigger-than-expected half-point interest rate cut last week.
The consumer confidence index measures both Americans’ assessment of current economic conditions and their outlook for the next six months.
The measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for income, business and the job market fell to 81.7 from 86.3 in July. A reading under 80 can signal a potential recession in the near future.
“Consumers’ assessments of current business conditions turned negative while views of the current labor market situation softened further,” said Dana Peterson, the Conference Board’s chief economist. Consumers were also more pessimistic about future labor market conditions, Peterson said.
The labor market has been loosening lately, with jobs numbers steadily declining in recent months.
Employers added a modest 142,000 jobs in August, up from an even weaker 89,000 in July. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.2% from 4.3%, which had been the highest level in nearly three years. Hiring in June and July was revised sharply down by a combined 86,000. July’s job gain was the smallest since the pandemic.
On top of the tepid jobs numbers from July and August, the government reported earlier this month that the U.S. economy added 818,000 fewer jobs from April
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