How Cautious Will Consumers Be This Holiday?
Maybe it’s time to tighten the belt again?
Last week we posted a report that consumers are planning on spending less this holiday season. Now The Conference Board says consumer confidence has dropped in October, which means we may have an even bluer Christmas than expected.
Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center, says labor market conditions are playing a major role in this grimmer assessment. Franco says the short-term outlook has also grown more negative: a greater proportion of consumers anticipate business and labor market conditions will worsen in the months ahead.
I don’t know about you, but I tightened my belt again after being a little carefree at the end of the summer. And for me, carefree meant buying a 12-pack of a decent beer instead of a 30 of Miller High Life Light in camouflage cans.
But with the job market still very slim and a lot of companies still still scaling back, that cheap beer is tasting pretty good.
What do you think? Are we overreacting to the job market, or are companies getting ready to hire again? We’re apparently no longer in a recession, but how long will recovery take? And will we ever get back to those happier economic days of 2007?
