After a lackluster jobs report last month, Americans are less confident about short-term income and are spending less.Americans are more pessimistic about the state of the United States economy after a weak jobs report showed cracks in the labour market.The Conference Board said on Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell to 97.4 this month from an upwardly revised 98.7 in July.“Notably, consumers’ appraisal of current job availability declined for the eighth consecutive month,” said Stephanie Guichard, senior economist of global indicators at the Conference Board.“Meanwhile, pessimism about future job availability inched up, and optimism about future income faded slightly.”Consumers are worried about their income. The measure that showed short-term expectations of business conditions fell by 1.2 points to 74.8. The marker that usually signals a looming recession is 80.Labour market fuels downturnWhile unemployment and layoffs remain historically low, there has been a noticeable deterioration in the labour market this year with mounting evidence that people are having difficulty finding jobs.US employers added 73,000 jobs in July, well short of the 115,000 analysts had expected. Worse, revisions by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to its May and June figures shaved 258,000 jobs off previous estimates, and the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2 percent from 4.1 percent.Another government report showed US employers posted 7.4 million job vacancies in June, down from 7.7 million in May. The number of people quitting their jobs – a sign of confidence in their prospects elsewhere – also fell. Advertisement More jobs data will come out next week when the …
