Confidence Struggles as Job Losses Mount

March 10, 2009 — -- Consumer confidence is stuck in a rut, matching its best number this year but hanging close to the record low, as the unemployment rate hit a 25-year high.

The ABC News Consumer Comfort Index stands at -48 on its scale of +100 to -100, returning to the 2009 high. That's not much of an accomplishment; confidence has been in a 1-point range for four weeks and is 6 points from its worst ever, -54 on Jan. 25. It's been two full years since confidence was last in positive territory. In that time it's plunged steeply and is on pace for its worst year.

Click here for PDF of analysis with charts and data table.

Of the three components of the CCI, it's ratings of the economy that are dragging the index down. Nearly all Americans have rated the economy negatively for the past two months, a dismal streak not seen in 23 years of weekly polls.

It's no surprise confidence hasn't improved. Last week the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the unemployment rate at 8.1 percent, the highest level since December 1983. Since the recession began 15 months ago, 4.4 million jobs have disappeared and the bulk of them, 2.6 million, in the last four months alone. A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll finds economic anxiety is fueled by household job losses and pay cuts.

INDEX – The CCI is based on Americans' ratings of the economy, their personal finances and the buying climate. Ratings of personal finances are, as usual, the strongest of the three measures. At 48 percent positive, they're 7 points from their low in late January and 9 points below the long-term average in weekly polls since late 1985. Fewer than a majority have rated their own finances positively for 33 weeks straight, surpassed only by a 40-week run in 1992-93.

Twenty-five percent rate the buying climate positively, it's best in two months. Still, they're 13 points from the long-term average and just 7 points from the low in October and August. Fewer than a third of Americans have said it's a good time to buy things for 69 weeks, second only to a stretch from 1990-93.