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Consumer confidence fell sharply in September on growing worries about the labor market.
The consumer-confidence index dropped to 94.2 in September from a revised 97.8 in the prior month, the Conference Board said Tuesday. This is the lowest level since April.
Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had forecast the index to slip to 96.0 in September from the initial estimate of 97.4 in August.
Consumers’ assessment of the availability of jobs fell for the ninth straight month.
Key details: A measure that looks at how consumers feel about the economy right now fell 7 points to 125.4. That’s the largest drop in a year.
A confidence gauge that looks six months ahead dropped by 1.3 points to 73.4. Since February, the expectations index has been below the threshold of 80, which has traditionally been seen as a signal of recession.
Economists focus on labor-market conditions by measuring the spread between the percentage of consumers who think jobs are plentiful and the percentage who think jobs are hard to get.
That spread, called the labor-market differential, has narrowed for nine straight months and is now at a multiyear low of 7.8.
Big picture: The decline in sentiment reflects worries about the labor market that spiked after the weak July jobs report.
People are pessimistic because it is difficult to upgrade a job, interest rates are high, the threat of tariffs remains and “there seems to be a new impactful development in economic policy each week,” said Elizabeth Renter, senior economist at NerdWallet.
