Americans are fretting over the job market

America’s slowing job market is taking a toll on people’s moods.

America’s slowing job market is taking a toll on people’s moods. The Conference Board’s latest consumer survey showed that Americans became much more pessimistic about the US economy’s current health and the future of the job market. The monthly survey’s Consumer Confidence Index fell to a reading of 98.7 in September, down from August’s upwardly revised 105.6. That decline was worse than economists had predicted. “Consumer confidence dropped in September to near the bottom of the narrow range that has prevailed over the past two years,” said Dana Peterson, chief economist at The Conference Board, in a release. “September’s decline was the largest since August 2021 and all five components of the Index deteriorated.” The US job market is in decent shape, but it is clearly running at a much slower pace these days than it has in recent years. In July, employers had the fewest job openings since January 2021 and the unemployment rate stood at 4.2% in August, up from a half-century low of 3.4% last seen in 2023. Employers just aren’t hiring at the same break-neck pace they did when the US economy first rebounded mightily from the Covid-19 pandemic. Americans have taken note. Peterson said the weaker-than-expected survey results “reflected consumers’ concerns about the labor market and reactions to fewer hours, slower payroll increases, fewer job openings — even if the labor market remains quite healthy, with low unemployment, few layoffs and elevated wages.”