Ratings of Economy at 23-Year Low

Feb. 10, 2009 — -- Consumer confidence suffered another blow this week as positive ratings of the national economy all but disappeared amid news of more job losses.

The ABC News Consumer Comfort Index stands at -53 on its scale of +100 to -100, 1 point from its record low set two weeks ago. This past month has been the worst stretch ever for the index, averaging -53 over four weeks.

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While all three components of the index – the economy, buying climate and personal finances – are terrible, ratings of the economy are rock bottom. Only 4 percent rate it positively and 96 percent negatively, levels that can't get much worse. The other measures are near their worst: Seventy-eight percent say it is a bad time to buy things and 56 percent negatively rate their own finances.

The economy shed nearly 600,000 jobs in January, the 13th month of losses, with an unemployment rate of 7.6 percent, the highest in 16 years. Job creation is the cornerstone to Barack Obama's economic stimulus package. In last night's address to the nation he said, "We've lost now 3.6 million jobs, but what's perhaps even more disturbing is that almost half of that job loss has taken place over the last three months, which means that the problems are accelerating instead of getting better." Consumer confidence since November has averaged -51 and have not been higher than -48.

INDEX – As noted, just 4 percent rate the economy positively, 35 points below the long-term average and 11 points off last year's average – the second lowest annual mark on record. Fewer than one in 10 have rated the economy positively for 14 weeks, an unprecedented slump.

Twenty-two percent rate the buying climate positively, back to where it was in mid-December after edging up recently. It's 16 points from the long-term average and just 4 points off the low set in October and August. Fewer than a third of Americans have said it's a good time to buy things for 65 weeks straight now – only a stretch from 1990-93 was longer at this level.