Consumer Confidence at Highest Level Since September 2002

onsumer confidence rose in November to the highest in more than a year, the Conference Board said Tuesday.

The New York-based private research group said its consumer confidence index rose to 91.7, from a revised 81.7 in October. The October index was initially reported at 81.1 last month.

The index is a prognosticator of consumer spending. When people are feeling confident about the economy, they are more likely to spend money, which increases the demand for trucking services.

The index measuring sentiment about the current economy rose to 80.1 from 67 in October and 59.7 in September. And the index of consumers' attitudes about conditions six months from now rose to 99.4 from 91.5, reflecting more optimism about hiring.

The number of people who said jobs would become increasingly hard to find fell to 17.6 from 20.4, and the percentage of people expecting their incomes to improve rose to 19 from 16.9, the Conference Board said.

"The improvement in the present situation index, especially in the jobs component, suggests that consumers believe a slow but sure labor market turnaround is underway," said Lynn Franco, director of the board’s Consumer Research Center. "The rise in expectations is a signal that consumers will end this year much more upbeat than when the year began."

The proportion of people in the survey who said business conditions were good rose to 19.9% from 17.1, while the share who saw business conditions as bad fell to 24% from 28.1%.

The board compiles its index from a survey of 5,000 households.

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