The Conference Board s Consumer Research Center. Deteriorating business conditions and a less favorable job market are the two critical reasons for the latest decline in confidence. It s clear that consumers have begun to worry about employment trends and these concerns are gnawing away at consumer confidence. Consumers assessment of current business conditions fell in April. Those reporting jobs were plentiful fell from 43.8 percent to 40.0 percent.
Consumers outlook for the next six months is also less optimistic than last month.
Those expecting an improvement in business conditions dipped from 15.1 percent to 14.1 percent. Those anticipating conditions to worsen increased from 13.7 percent to 14.7 percent. The employment outlook has also turned sour. Some 23.2 percent of consumers expect fewer jobs to become available over the next six months, up from 20.4 percent. Those expecting more jobs to become available remained virtually unchanged at 12.3 percent.