Consumer sentiment falls again in September

After a brief pause in its decline in August, Utah’s consumer sentiment fell again in September, dropping from 66.0 to 63.9, according to the Kem C. Gardner Institute’s Survey of Utah Consumers. Moderating inflation seemed to placate consumers in August following three straight months of decline from May through July. But as the decline in inflation leveled off, or even climbed back up in places, in September, consumers began again to express doubts about the economy.{mprestriction ids="1,3"}

“When considering the year-over decline, it is clear that Utahns are feeling the pinch of rising prices when they consider how they feel about the economy,” said Phil Dean, Gardner Institute chief economist. “While inflation remains a key challenge, the Utah economy remains fundamentally strong because of low unemployment, stabilizing home prices, and Utah’s relatively higher consumer sentiment when compared to the national data.”

Meanwhile, a similar survey by the University of Michigan during the same period found sentiment among Americans as a whole essentially unchanged from August (58.2) to September (58.6).

While there is only a slight change in Utah consumer sentiment from August, just over a 2-percentage point decrease, the change in resident sentiment from one year ago is substantial — a drop in the index from 83.03 to 63.86.

The Utah Consumer Sentiment Survey uses comparable questions to the University of Michigan’s Survey of Consumers. These questions measure residents’ views of present and future economic conditions. Both surveys include a random sample of consumers, including demographic questions to assess the representativeness of the sample.

Questions comprising the Consumer Sentiment Survey include five concerning current and expected future economic conditions. Two of the questions refer to business or economic conditions in the country as a whole (rather than in one’s home state, for example). The Utah survey then supplements these two questions with alternative versions that refer to the state of Utah rather than the country as a whole. The questions measure residents’ views of the present economic situation and their expectation for the economy in the future.

The full survey can be seen at the Gardner Institute website, https://gardner.utah.edu/.{/mprestriction}