Americans are growing increasingly anxious about the future of the job market and broader economy, with new data released Tuesday morning showing levels of pessimism not seen since some of the bleakest periods in recent history.
The latest numbers reveal the current state of the U.S. economy this spring: economic activity remains steady for now, but there’s a clear sense that Americans are bracing for tougher times ahead. The Conference Board’s consumer confidence survey, a widely watched measure of sentiment, dropped for the fifth consecutive month. More strikingly, consumers’ expectations for the future plunged to a 13-year low, even worse than during the height of the pandemic.
In a separate report, the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for March showed relatively stable conditions in the labor market. Hiring ticked up slightly, and layoffs declined compared to February. However, job openings did fall by 288,000 a possible early sign that employers are beginning to pull back, though fluctuations in this data are common and could be due to normal volatility.
Stephanie Guichard, senior economist at the Conference Board, said the decline in expectations reflects widespread worry about business conditions, job prospects, and personal incomes. “Notably, the share of consumers expecting fewer jobs in the next six months (32.1%) was nearly as high as in April 2009, during the depths of the Great Recession,” Guichard noted.
She added that expectations about future income turned decisively negative for the first time in five years, suggesting economic concerns have now become personal for many households. On top of that, the average consumer now anticipates inflation to run at 7% over the next year the highest level of inflation expectations since the surge that followed the pandemic in 2022.
While the economy still shows signs of resilience, the growing unease among Americans highlights the fragile balance policymakers must navigate as they confront persistent inflation and cooling business sentiment.