Consumers became more optimistic about the U.S. economy heading into a disputed presidential election, even as job openings hit multi-year lows, according to a separate report released Tuesday.
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index rose more than 11% to 138 in October, the largest monthly increase since March 2021. to 89.1 which clearly indicates that levels below 80 indicate a recession.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a headline number of 99.5.
“Consumers’ assessment of current business conditions has turned positive,” said Dana Peterson, the committee’s chief economist. “After several months of weakness, perceptions of current job opportunities have rebounded, which may Reflects better labor market data.”
That sentiment seemed at odds with a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which showed the number of job openings slipped to 7.44 million in September, down more than 400,000 from last month’s downwardly revised level and the lowest since January 2021 level.
The decline in vacancies has brought the ratio of vacancies to existing employees below 1.1 to 1. In mid-2022, the number exceeded 2 to 1.
Although the number of job openings fell, hiring increased by 123,000 people this month. The number of resignations was little changed, while the number of resignations fell by 107,000.
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