SALT LAKE CITY \u2014 For the third consecutive month, Utah’s consumer sentiment ticked upwards with a modest 0.9% increase in January.<\/p>\n
From December to January, Utah’s sentiment increased from 79.9 to 80.6, according to the Zions Bank Consumer Sentiment Survey. The increase, as noted in a Zions Bank release, is within the survey’s margin of error.<\/p>\n
January’s data also show that Utahns generally feel much better about the economy than their counterparts in other states.<\/p>\n
While a similar survey conducted by the University of Michigan reported that consumer sentiment increased by 6.6% among Americans as a whole in January, U.S. consumer sentiment remains at 56.4, well below Utah’s.<\/p>\n
Notably, Utah consumer sentiment improved or held steady across all categories except durable goods, which include household appliances and electronics. This category saw a drop in sentiment from 94.8 in December to 89.6 in January.<\/p>\n
And even as Utah’s sentiment has crept up over the last few months, albeit gradually, the state’s consumer sentiment remains 11.8% lower than it was a year ago.<\/p>\n
That number is worse for the nation as a whole, with the U.S. consumer sentiment 21.3% lower than it was at this time last year, signaling Americans in Utah and elsewhere are feeling the impacts of a constricting economy.<\/p>\n
“While Utah confidence levels are lower than a year ago. It’s good to see them improving over the past few months,” Zions Bank senior economist Robert Spendlove said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Some of that year-to-year drop could have to do with employment opportunities, with the Associated Press reporting U.S. job openings fell<\/a> to the lowest level in more than five years, another sign that the American labor market remains sluggish.<\/p>\n The Labor Department on Thursday reported that vacancies fell to 6.5 million in December, from 6.9 million in November and the fewest since September 2020.<\/p>\n Additionally, the number of people quitting their jobs \u2014 which shows confidence in their prospects \u2014 was basically unchanged at 3.2 million.<\/p>\n