A measure of consumer confidence has increased for a second straight month on more upbeat assessments of business and labor conditions even as concerns about recession and inflation persist.

The Conference Board reported its Consumer Confidence Index rose 4.4 points between August and September. With gains in each of the last two months, the index has climbed to 108. Components of the index tracking current conditions and expectations both increased for September.

“Looking ahead, the improvement in confidence may bode well for consumer spending in the final months of 2022, but inflation and interest rate hikes remain strong headwinds to growth in the short term,” said Lynn Franco, senior director of economic indicators at the Conference Board.

The New York-based think tank bases the index on the results of household surveys. Economists monitor the index because consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of economic activity.

More optimistic assessments of current conditions pushed the present situation component of the index up 4.3 points to 149.6.

The proportion of those responding to the survey upon which the September index was based who described business conditions as “good” rose 1.8 points to 20.8 percent. The share of those who said conditions were “bad” fell 1.4 points to 21.2 percent.

The proportion of respondents who said jobs were “plentiful” rose 1.8 points to 49.4 percent. The share of those who said jobs were “hard to get” edged down two-tenths of a point to 11.4 percent.

More upbeat outlooks pushed the expectations component of the index up 4.5 points to 80.3.

The share of those who expected business conditions to improve over the next six month rose two points to 19.3 percent. The proportion of those who anticipated worsening conditions fell seven-tenths of a point to 21 percent.

The share of those who expected more jobs to become available in coming months rose four-tenths of a point to 17.5 percent.
The proportion of those who believed fewer jobs will be available fell 1.9 points to 17.7 percent.

While 18.4 percent of respondents expected their incomes to increase, 14.3 percent anticipated lower incomes.