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The Consumer Confidence Index rebounded in August following two consecutive months of declines. The improvement was led, in part, by consumers' assessment of the job market.
The August index stands at 54.1, up from 47.4 in July, according to The Conference Board Inc., a New York-based research organization. The baseline for the index is 100.
"Consumer confidence, which had posted back-to-back monthly declines, appears to be back on the mend," Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center, said of the report's findings.
Survey respondents who said business conditions are "bad" decreased to 45.6% in August from 46.5% who said so a month earlier. However, those saying conditions are "good" decreased to 8.6% in August from 8.9% in July.
Respondents' assessment of the labor market improved this month. Those claiming jobs are "hard to get" decreased to 45.1% in August from 48.5% a month earlier, while those claiming jobs are "plentiful" increased to 4.2% in August from 3.7% in July. Consumers expecting an increase in their incomes increased slightly to 10.6% from 10.1%.
"Consumers were more upbeat in their short-term outlook for both the economy and the job market in August, but only slightly more upbeat in their income expectations," Franco said. "And, as long as earnings continue to weigh heavily on consumers' minds, spending is likely to remain constrained."
United Kingdom-based research company TNS conducts the monthly Consumer Confidence survey of 5,000 randomly selected households. The cutoff date for this month's survey was Aug. 18.
