COLONIE — Retailers in the Empire State may want to stock their shelves and car dealers might want to fill their lots. A recent survey shows Consumer Sentiment in New York taking an overall jump compared to that of late last year and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have finally returned to a point where collectively we feel OK,” said Don Levy, director of the Siena College Research Institute, which on Wednesday released its New York State Index of Consumer Sentiment for the first quarter of 2023.
The Index of Consumer Sentiment is at 75 points, up 2.7 points from the last measurement in the fourth quarter of 2022.
That’s 13 points above the nation’s Index of 62.0. The national Index is compiled by the University of Michigan.
A score of 75 is just below the break even point at which pessimism and optimism about the economy are balanced.
The Index in New York has whipsawed when examined over the past few years as worries about COVID-19 came and went and as inflation fears took hold. However, that worry has abated a bit during the past few months.
In November 2019, for example, New York’s Index reached a high of 93, but plunged to 66 in March 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic was closing businesses and keeping people at home.
The recent score of 75 is far from the highs of past years, Levy cautioned. “These are not astronomically good numbers. They are better numbers.”
And there are age, regional and political splits that emerge when one digs into the numbers.
Much of the rising sentiment was driven by increasing optimism among New York City residents, younger New Yorkers, Democrats and men who posted higher confidence scores than women, older people, Republicans and upstaters.
The split between sentiment in New York City and upstate was stark: NYC Metropolitan…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply