Survey: Inflation, Shaky Jobs Outlook May Kill Economic Recovery
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — For the second straight month, Americans are losing confidence in the U.S. economy, which could spell trouble for the sputtering recovery.
Consumer sentiment is essentially unchanged from April to May, according to The Consumer Reports Trouble Tracker Index, which measures the amount of financial difficulties consumers face.
Ed Farrell, the director at Consumer Reports National Survey Research Center told KNX 1070 that a slowdown in the jobs market could be behind the recent slowdown.
"The problem is that people still have this overwhelming burden of the employment situation, which is riding them very heavily," said Farrell.
He noted that a recent jobs report shows the U.S. is losing nearly as many jobs are being created every month.
Farrell's survey - which measures consumer sentiment and consumer troubles - shows that nearly one-third of Americans faced one or more financial difficulties, nearly a 5 percent increase from April.
The threat of looming inflation on consumer staples like food and energy is also weighing down expectations for the economy.
"The recovery at this point is really in danger of stalling," said Farrell. "There's nothing in the data that suggests that a robust recovery is likely in the next one month, two months, three months or even six months."
