Utahns’ consumer confidence continues to rise despite higher food, and utility costs. The positive outlook is being driven by the huge drops in gasoline prices according the Zions Bank Consumer Attitude Index numbers released Tuesday.
Randy Shumway is the CEO of the Cicero Group which conducts the survey for Zions.
“Confidence in Utah is higher than confidence nationally; it has been every month for the last three years,” says Shumway, “but pretty consistently anywhere between 10 and 20 points higher, because things are going so much better in Utah than they are nationally.”
Shumway says the lower fuel prices have social implications as well. He says people feel safer because fewer American lives are being lost in the oil-rich Middle-East.
“The other advantage of having increased domestic energy independence is the amount of jobs that it creates here in the United States. That alone has probably been the number one impetus or benefit that we’ve experienced surrounding job increase over the last two or three years,” says Shumway.
The Zions Bank Wasatch Front Consumer Price Index increased 0.5 % since this same time last year on a non-seasonally adjusted basis. The survey is also conducted for Zions by the Cicero Group. The similar national Consumer Price Index, released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, increased 0.6 % over the past 12 months.
