Consumer Confidence in Utah By Dianne Meppen, Kem C. Gardner Institute
W
e live in a unique time. The uncertainty of the pandemic is a new experience for both consumers and businesses. It is a time of continual change: repeated openings and closings of businesses and schools, new COVID variants, supply issues, and “the great resignation.” The past two years may impact consumer behaviors and economic decisions for years to come. Consumers’ economic decisions are generally determined by their confidence in the economy. When the economy is growing, consumer confidence generally increases along with spending. Conversely, when confidence in the economy diminishes, consumers feel less financial security and pull back on spending, resulting in a decline in sales for businesses. Surveys measuring consumer confidence have been particularly important in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID and its impact on the broad economy. In 2020, the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute began conducting a Utah consumer confidence survey using five key questions from the University of Michigan’s eighty-year old Survey of Consumers. The questions focus on current family financial situation relative to one year ago, expected future change in family financial situation, business conditions expected during the following
42 Southern Utah Business Magazine :: Spring 2022
