A measure of consumer confidence continues to retreat on less optimistic assessments of business and labor conditions in the United States.

The Conference Board reported its Consumer Confidence Index fell 1.4 points to 102.3 in May. Components of the index tracking current conditions and short-term expectations both decreased.

“Consumer confidence declined in May as consumers’ views of current conditions became somewhat less upbeat, while their expectations remained gloomy,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, senior director of economics at the Conference Board.

Consumers were more downbeat about employment conditions, Ozyildirium said. The worsening outlook was particularly noteworthy among consumers over 55 years old, he said.

Consumers expect inflation to average 6.1 percent over the next year, he said. That’s down from a peak of 7.9 percent last year.

The present situation component of the index fell 3.2 points to 148.6 in May.

The proportion of consumers responding to the survey upon which the May index was based who called business conditions “good” increased six-tenths of a point to 19.6 percent. The share of consumers who described conditions as “bad” fell 1.1 points to 17 percent.

The proportion of consumers who said jobs were  “plentiful” dropped four points to 43.5 percent. The share of those who said jobs were “hard to get” rose 1.9 points to 12.5 percent.

The expectations component of the index slipped two-tenths of a point to 71.5 in May. With the exception of an uptick in December, the reading has remained below 80 since February 2022. That’s a level associated with the onset of a recession within a year.

The share of consumers who expect business conditions to improve over the next six months fell 1.2 points to 12.9 percent. The proportion of those anticipating worsening conditions declined eight-tenths of a point to 20.6 percent.

The share of consumers who expect more jobs to become available fell seven-tenths of a point to 13.6 percent. The proportion of those anticipating fewer jobs fell 1.1 points to 20.2 percent.

While 17.8 percent of consumers said they expect their incomes to increase, up a half point from April, 11.5 percent anticipate decreased incomes. That’s unchanged from a month ago.