Consumer Confidence Increased Again in November—Here's What Drove It

Key Takeaways

• Consumer confidence improved again in November, nearing its highest in two years.
• More people said they felt better about the current economic environment in The Conference Board monthly survey.
• Optimism over job prospects was the highest in nearly three years, while inflation expectations dropped.
• The increase builds on October’s improvement and trends with results from a similar consumer survey. 

Consumers were feeling the most optimistic about their job prospects in nearly three years, helping push confidence in the economy higher in November.

The Conference Board’s U.S. Consumer Confidence Index increased to 111.7 in November, a jump of more than two points from the prior month and above what economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires expected.

“Consumer confidence continued to improve in November and reached the top of the range that has prevailed over the past two years,” said Dana Peterson, chief economist at The Conference Board. “Compared to October, consumers were also substantially more optimistic about future job availability, which reached its highest level in almost three years."

Consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions shot up by 4.8 points to help lead the index’s increases. In contrast, improvement in the short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions was more modest. Inflation expectations moved lower, with consumers believing prices will increase over the next 12-month period at a rate of 4.9%, the lowest in the survey since March 2020.

Confidence Trending Higher

The reading in the labor-sensitive survey builds on a jump in October’s consumer confidence report and follows a similar improvement in the November Michigan Consumer Sentiment survey.

“An upward monthly move on its own is encouraging, but what makes this more impressive is that it's coming off a high base in October,” wrote Wells Fargo economists Tim Quinlan, Shannon Seery Grein and Jeremiah Kohl. “Confidence leaped over ten points in October, and when you combine that with the November gain, confidence is now sitting at the highest level in nearly three years.”

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