Consumer confidence hits lowest point since April as job worries grow

Consumers soured on the current economy and their prospects for the future, with worries growing over the ability to find a job, according to a Conference Board survey released Tuesday.

The board's Consumer Confidence Index for November slumped to 88.7, a drop of 6.8 points from the prior month for its lowest reading since April. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones were looking for a reading of 93.2.

In addition, the expectations index tumbled 8.6 points to 63.2 while the present situation index slipped to 126.9, a decline of 4.3 points.

“Consumers were notably more pessimistic about business conditions six months from now,” said Dana Peterson, the board's chief economist. “Mid-2026 expectations for labor market conditions remained decidedly negative, and expectations for increased household incomes shrunk dramatically, after six months of strongly positive readings.”

A key reading within the report that measures job expectations showed deterioration.

The share of workers saying that jobs are “plentiful” slid to 6%, down from 28.6% in October and reflective of the “no-hire no-fire” current job climate show in other data points. Another question asking whether jobs were “hard to get” edged lower to 17.9%, a drop of 0.4 percentage point.

Those results come the same day that payrolls processing firm ADP reported that private companies shed an average 13,500 jobs over the past four weeks. Moreover, the Conference Board survey is consistent with other measures showing weakening sentiment among consumers.

For instance, the University of Michigan's sentiment gauge dropped 4.9% in November on a monthly basis and was off 29% from a year ago.

The weakening numbers have coincided with public statements from several key Federal Reserve officials who believe further interest rate reductions are warranted. Traders are pricing in a high probability that the Fed lowers its key borrowing rate by another quarter percentage point in December.

In the Conference Board survey, Peterson noted weakness across income and political groups.

“Consumers' write-in responses pertaining to factors affecting the economy continued to be led by references to prices and inflation, tariffs and trade, and politics, with increased mentions of the federal government shutdown,” Peterson said. “Mentions of the labor market eased somewhat but still stood out among all other frequent themes not already cited.”

Inflation expectations rose, with respondents predicting a 4.8% rate one year from now, well above the Fed's 2% target="_blank" kwlink="6384064000816950219725">target and topping the Michigan survey outlook for 4.5%. Respondents also expressed “strongly positive” expectations for the stock market over the next year.

Economic data has been hampered by the recently ended shutdown. Government agencies responsible for the reports suspended all data collection and releases while the impasse continued, with a trickle of mostly dated reports coming out in recent days.