As 2013 comes to a close, consumer confidence is on the rebound.
A monthly survey conducted by UF’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research found that consumer confidence in the economy increased in November after a dip in October.
A phone survey of 405 Floridians statewide included five questions ranging from current conditions to future expectations about the economy.
Each response is given a value from 2 to 150, with the higher score meaning more optimism.
November’s readings resulted in an average of 76 as opposed to October’s 70, the year’s lowest reading.
Bureau Director Christopher McCarty said the increase is mostly a bounceback from the government shutdown and avoided debt ceiling default.
“When consumer confidence is low it means consumers, for a variety of reasons, are not feeling very optimistic,” he said.
McCarty predicted that December will probably be about the same because there is no current political happening affecting consumer confidence.
However, he said there is a strong possibility of consumer confidence declining in January as Congress revisits the debt ceiling issue.
“You can anticipate that come the new year the headlines will be full about what Congress should do about the debt ceiling,” McCarty said.
Christina Ford, a 21-year-old UF political science and economics junior, attributed the increased consumer confidence to 44 months of private sector job growth under President Barack Obama.
“It’s not surprising that consumers are beginning to become more confident in the economy with numbers like that,” Ford said.
A version of this story ran on page 4 on 12/3/2013 under the headline "Consumer confidence is rising"
