Consumer Confidence Dips Due to Job Concerns
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Ryan McVay/Thoinkstock(NEW YORK) — How Americans feel about their jobs is affecting consumer confidence.
What they’ve been seeing lately is employers holding back on new hires as well being stingy about raises.
Accordingly, the New York-based Conference Board says its confidence index this month stands at 79.7, down from 81.8 in August.
The index is a measure on how consumers feel about their financial state. Since spending drives about 70 percent of the national economy, it’s an important barometer of where things may be headed in the near future.
Typically, a consumer confidence index of 90 or above suggests the economy is healthy. During the depths of the Great Recession, it fell to under 29.
Reaching the threshold of what constitutes a strong healthy economy could still be a long time in coming with unemployment still high and the federal government continuing to make spending cuts spurred along by the ongoing sequester.
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