Confidence Rises With Job Growth

What a difference six months can make. Between March and November of this year, the University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment has risen 21%. The Director of the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan, Dr. Richard Curtin, said in a press release "Consumer confidence reached its highest level in 18 months due to the expectations that a stronger economy would produce more jobs during the year ahead." Interestingly, consumers do not expect the extraordinary third quarter growth in the economy to persist. Their view is more cautiously optimistic, and is critically dependent on continued job growth. Curtin said "more consumers reported that jobs were already more plentiful in the November survey, and more consumers expected a declining unemployment rate than at any other time during the past ten years." The chart below displays the Index of Consumer Sentiment for the past three decades.

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