For the first time since the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute’s Survey of Utah Consumer Sentiment was established in 2020, the indicator of how Utahns are feeling about the economy performed worse that the nation as a whole. The index dropped 2.9 percent — from 80.3 to 78.
A similar survey by the University of Michigan found that sentiment increased by 3.1 percent among Americans overall during the same time (from 76.9 to 79.4). Both figures are within the margin of error of their respective surveys.
“We never like to see a Utah economic indicator performing worse than the nation, especially for the first time,” said Natalie Gochnour, director of the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute. “Is it concerning? Yes, but with a caveat. It’s only one month of data. The prudent course is to keep a steady eye on consumer behavior and see if a trend develops.”
The Utah consumer confidence survey uses key questions from the University of Michigan’s Survey of Consumers. These questions measure residents’ views of the present economic situation and their expectations for the economy in the future. Data gathered from the key questions are used to create the consumer confidence index for Utah. Demographic questions are included in the questionnaire to allow for additional analysis of the data and to assess the representativeness of the sample.
The full results of the survey are available online at the Gardner Institute website, https://gardner.utah.edu.