Blog
Consumer Confidence Sees a Big Jump in the New Year
January 29, 2020
Consumers started 2020 feeling much more optimistic. Consumer confidence jumped to 131.6 for the month, up from 126.5 in December. This is a much larger increase than was expected. Economists had expected an increase to 128.
The Conference Board, which runs the index, notes that the jump was primarily due to consumers feeling more confident about their job prospects. The data shows that nearly half, 49 percent, of consumers think that jobs are “plentiful,” while the number of consumers who think that jobs are “hard to get” has fallen to 11.6 percent.
The numbers indicate that consumers may continue to drive growth and prevent economic growth from slowing in the early part of the new year.
