NEW YORK, Sept. 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference
Board Consumer Confidence Index® increased
in September, after declining in August. The Index now stands at
101.8 (1985=100), up from 86.3 in August. The Present Situation
Index – based on consumers' assessment of current business and
labor market conditions – increased from 85.8 to 98.5. The
Expectations Index – based on consumers' short-term outlook for
income, business, and labor market conditions – increased from 86.6
in August to 104.0 this month.
The monthly Consumer Confidence
Survey®, based on a probability-design random
sample, is conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen, a leading
global provider of information and analytics around what consumers
buy and watch. The cutoff date for the preliminary results was
September 18.
"Consumer Confidence increased sharply in September, after
back-to-back monthly declines, but remains below pre-pandemic
levels," said Lynn Franco, Senior
Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board. "A more
favorable view of current business and labor market conditions,
coupled with renewed optimism about the short-term outlook, helped
spur this month's rebound in confidence. Consumers also expressed
greater optimism about their short-term financial prospects, which
may help keep spending from slowing further in the months
ahead."
Consumers' appraisal of current conditions rebounded in
September. The percentage of consumers claiming business conditions
are "good" increased from 16.0 percent to 18.3 percent, while those
claiming business conditions are "bad" decreased from 43.3 percent
to 37.4 percent. Consumers' assessment of the labor market also
improved. The percentage of consumers saying jobs are "plentiful"
increased from 21.4 percent to 22.9 percent, while those claiming
jobs are "hard to get" decreased from 23.6 percent to 20.0
percent.
Consumers were also more optimistic about the short-term
outlook. The percentage of consumers expecting business conditions
will improve over the next six months increased from 29.8 percent
to 37.1 percent, while those expecting business conditions will
worsen decreased from 20.7 percent to 15.8 percent. Consumers were
more positive about the outlook for the labor market. The
proportion expecting more jobs in the months ahead increased from
29.9 percent to 33.1 percent, while those anticipating fewer jobs
decreased from 21.2 percent to 15.6 percent. Regarding their
short-term income prospects, the percentage of consumers expecting
an increase improved from 13.0 percent to 17.5 percent, while the
proportion expecting a decrease declined from 16.0 percent to 12.6
percent.
Source: September 2020
Consumer Confidence Survey®
The Conference Board / Release #7046
The Conference Board publishes the Consumer Confidence
Index® at 10 a.m. ET
on the last Tuesday of every month. Subscription information and
the technical notes to this series are available on The Conference
Board website:
https://www.conference-board.org/data/consumerdata.cfm.
About The Conference Board
The Conference Board is the member-driven think tank that delivers
trusted insights for what's ahead. Founded in 1916, we are a
non-partisan, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt
status in the United States. www.conference-board.org.
About NIELSEN
Nielsen Holdings plc (NYSE: NLSN) is a global performance
management company that provides a comprehensive understanding of
what consumers watch and buy. Nielsen's Watch segment provides
media and advertising clients with Total Audience measurement
services for all devices on which content — video, audio and text —
is consumed. The Buy segment offers consumer packaged goods
manufacturers and retailers the industry's only global view of
retail performance measurement. By integrating information from its
Watch and Buy segments and other data sources, Nielsen also
provides its clients with analytics that help improve performance.
Nielsen, an S&P 500 company, has operations in over 100
countries, covering more than 90 percent of the world's population.
For more information,
visit www.nielsen.com.
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SOURCE The Conference Board