Consumer confidence hurts economic rebound

The federal government has announced the national jobless rate remained stable in recent months, inching upward from five-point-six to five-point-seven percent in October. Iowa Workforce labor analyst Ann Wagner says while the unemployment figures are stabilizing, consumer confidence is at its lowest level since 1993.Consumer confidence is the component that’s “held us up” through the recession, so its drop is a matter for some concern, she says. There’s been a lot of strength from consumer buying throughout the recession. Wagner says consumers are showing more restraint in their buying decisions than they did at times during the recession, when spending kept the economy stronger than it might otherwise have been. She says they’re worried about their portfolios, what happened in the stock market, going to war…a number of factors that have caused them to rein in their spending.