Job market worries, high costs: US Consumer confidence in November hits lowest point since April after govt shutdown

US consumer confidence dropped in November to its lowest level since April in the aftermath of the government shutdown, however, they were more pessimistic about business conditions six months from now.

The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index declined by 6.8 points in November to 88.7 from 95.5 in October, the lowest reading since April.

“Consumer confidence tumbled in November to its lowest level since April after moving sideways for several months,” said Dana M Peterson, Chief Economist, The Conference Board.

According to the survey, 17.9% said jobs are 'hard to get', down from 18.3% in October.

Consumers who said jobs are 'plentiful' dropped to 27.6% in November, down from 28.6% in October.

Consumers’ average 12-month inflation expectations remained elevated in November, and the median rate increased to 4.8%. However, consumers are notably more pessimistic about business conditions, labor market and income prospects six months from now.

— 15.9% of consumers expected business conditions to improve, down from 18.9% in October, while 27.7% expected business conditions to worsen, up from 22.2%.

— 14.6% of consumers expected more jobs to be available, down from 15.8% in October. Whereas, 27.5% anticipated fewer jobs, down from 28.8%.

— 15.3% of consumers expected their incomes to increase, down from 18.2% in October, while 13.8% expected their incomes to decrease, up from 11.8%.

“We do not think that consumer spending is about to hit a cliff, as spending has decoupled from confidence, but risks to the downside are increasing,” AP quoted Thomas Simons, chief US economist at Jefferies, an investment bank, as saying.

According to survey, the share of consumers believing a recession is ‘very likely’ over the next 12 months fell further in November, but the share of consumers thinking that the economy was already in recession rose for the fourth consecutive month.

“Consumers’ write-in responses pertaining to factors affecting the economy continued to be led by references to prices and inflation, tariffs and trade, and politics, with increased mentions of the federal government shutdown. Mentions of the labor market eased somewhat but still stood out among all other frequent themes not already cited," said said Dana Peterson.

She added that the overall tone from November write-ins was slightly more negative than in October.

Ben Ayers, senior economist at Nationwide, told Reuters that while spending has held up over 2025 despite worsening survey readings, many consumers may have reached their limit as rising prices and labor market concerns cut spending plans, at least for the near term.