Consumer confidence improved slightly in August, reversing directions after declining in both June and July, The Conference Board Inc., a New York-based research organization, reported Aug. 31.
The August index stands at 53.5, up from 51 in July. The baseline for the index, set in 1985, is 100. Consumer confidence had been on the rise for three consecutive months when it declined sharply to 52.9 in June. The index stood at 62.7 in May.
United Kingdom-based TNS conducts the monthly Consumer Confidence survey of 5,000 randomly selected U.S. households. The cutoff date for this month’s survey was Aug. 24.
An improvement in consumers’ short-term outlook in August caused the rise in consumer confidence, although most respondents to the survey remained concerned about job shortages, Lynn Franco, director of the board’s consumer research center, said in a statement.
Consumer-confidence levels are about the same as they were a year ago, Franco noted.
The survey results describe how consumers feel about both current conditions in the Present Situations Index and about short-term conditions in the Expectations Index, which looks roughly six months ahead.
Survey respondents anticipating an improvement in business conditions over the next six months increased to 17% from 15.8% in July, while those expecting conditions to worsen declined to 13.4% from 15.3%.
Respondents anticipating more jobs in the months ahead increased to 14.6% from 14.2%, while those expecting to see fewer jobs decreased to 19.4% from 20.9%.
Consumers claiming that business conditions were “good” decreased to 8.7% from 8.8% in July, while those claiming business conditions are “bad” declined to 41.9% from 43.3%.
Respondents saying jobs are “hard to get” increased to 45.7% from 45.1%, while those claiming jobs are “plentiful” declined to 3.8% from 4.4%.
“Expectations about future business and labor-market conditions have brightened somewhat, but overall consumers remain apprehensive about the future,” Franco said.
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