Consumers' short-term outlook remains quite grim in April

30 Apr '08

3 min read

Looking ahead, consumers' outlook for the economy, the job market and their income prospects remains quite pessimistic and little changed from last month. Or, in other words, the glass remains half empty.”

Consumers' assessment of current conditions weakened further in April. Consumers claiming business conditions are “bad” increased to 26.7 percent from 25.5 percent, while those claiming business conditions are “good” was virtually unchanged at 15.3 percent versus 15.6 percent last month.

Consumers' appraisal of the labor market was also more negative than last month. The percentage of consumers saying jobs are “hard to get” rose to 27.9 percent from 24.5 percent, while those claiming jobs are “plentiful” declined to 16.6 percent from 19.2 percent.

Consumers' short-term outlook remained quite grim in April. Consumers expecting business conditions to worsen over the next six months increased to 27.0 percent from 26.0 percent, while those anticipating business conditions to improve increased to 10.1 percent from 8.6 percent in March.

The outlook for the labor market was also mixed, but still pessimistic. Those expecting fewer jobs in the months ahead increased to 32.8 percent from 29.3 percent, while those anticipating more jobs increased to 9.0 percent from 8.0 percent. The proportion of consumers expecting their incomes to increase declined to 15.1 percent from 16.1 percent.

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