Utahns are feeling better about things

Utah’s consumer sentiment rose in June to its highest level in more than a year, according to the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute’s Survey of Utah Consumer Sentiment released last week. The index rose to 76.3 last month, up from 71.0 in May.

A similar survey by the University of Michigan found an increase of similar magnitude among Americans as a whole, up to 64.4 in June from May’s 59.2.

“The Utah economy continues to demonstrate resiliency with low unemployment and strong job growth,” said Natalie Gochnour, director of the Gardner Institute. “This economic performance coupled with an interest rate hike pause and{mprestriction ids="1,3"} slowing inflation contribute to the highest level of Utah consumer sentiment in more than a year.”

The Utah consumer confidence survey uses key questions from the University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers. These questions measure residents’ views of the present economic situation and their expectations for the economy in the future. Data gathered from the key questions are used to create the consumer confidence index for Utah. Demographic questions are included in the questionnaire to allow for additional analysis of the data and to assess the representativeness of the sample.

The full results of the survey are available online at the Gardner Institute website, https://gardner.utah.edu.{/mprestriction}