Utah consumers' confidence drops

The August Utah consumer sentiment index took its first significant drop since February. It fell 7.5 percent from July’s 77.3 to its current to 71.5, according to the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute’s Survey of Utah Consumer Sentiment.

Nationwide sentiment also dropped in August, although the amount was less statistically significant. The survey by the University of Michigan came in at 69.5, compared to 71.6 in July.

“The latest consumer sentiment data highlights that Utahns continue to manage economic uncertainty,” said Phil Dean, chief economist at the Gardner Institute. “Utah unemployment hovers slightly above all-time lows and labor force participation recently increased to the highest level in over a decade. But rising gas prices, interest rates and housing prices contribute to economic uncertainty. Notably, even with this recent dip, Utah’s consumer sentiment consistently remains above the U.S. overall.”

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.