GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Aug. 26, 2016 – Consumer sentiment among Floridians fell 4.8 points in August to 88.2, according to the latest University of Florida (UF) consumer survey – the lowest reading in the last year. All five components that make up the index declined.
Floridians’ perceptions of their personal finances fell both now and for the future. The present financial situation had the sharpest drop, down 10.5 points from 86.7 to 76.2. Expectations of personal finances a year from now fell by 7.8 points to 98.6. Opinions on whether it’s a good time to buy a big-ticket item such as a car declined by 3.1 points from 101.9 to 98.8.
All Floridians had lower expectations with one exception: People aged 60 and over, whose readings showed little change.
“Most of the pessimism in August stems from the perceptions of personal finance … these two components account for more than three-quarters of the change in the index,” said Hector H. Sandoval, director of the Economic Analysis Program at UF’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research (BEBR).
Readings on U.S. economic conditions were down slightly for both short- and long-term expectations that dropped 1.9 points to 85.1 for conditions over the next year and down nine-tenths of a point to 82.1 for the next five years.
Five years ago (August 2011) as Florida was recovering from the Great Recession, consumer sentiment among Floridians was at its lowest level of 61.4 points. The effects of the recession were still being felt in Florida, with high levels of unemployment at 9.6 percent, and negative state Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rates.
Today, Florida’s consumer sentiment is 26.8 points higher. Florida’s GDP increased by 2.1 percent in the first quarter of 2016 and the state ranked 10th in the nation – slightly higher than the 1.9 percent growth rate for the U.S. Furthermore, the real GDP growth rate in Florida has remained positive since 2012. Unemployment levels in Florida are currently at their lowest since the last recession, and the unemployment rate of 4.7 percent is unchanged from the previous two months.
“Despite the positive economic signals, consumer sentiment among Floridians seems to remain gloomy,” Sandoval says. “Except for July’s reading, consumer sentiment has followed a slightly downward trajectory over the last six months.”
Sandoval says that the state’s job market may be having an influence.
“Although the number of jobs added statewide has remained positive for an outstanding 72 consecutive months, the unemployment levels haven’t decreased for the past three months, suggesting that the labor market has reached its ‘natural’ unemployment level,” Sandoval says. “It’s possible that economic agents are expecting a downturn in the economic activity in the medium-run, which is reflected in the latest trends of the consumer sentiment index.”
Read More – Click Here!
This post has 0 Comments