In the second quarter of 2014, consumer confidence was up… a little… for the year, but still lower than one year prior.

As part of CivicScience’s partnership with Hamilton Place Strategies, our latest quarterly report on the Economic Sentiment Index (ESI) was published today. The in-depth report includes these highlights:

Summary: The quarterly measure of the ESI rose in the second quarter of 2014, but remains below its level from a year ago. At the end of July, the two-week average was slightly above levels a year before. At this point last year, consumer confidence began to fall and then plummeted around the government shutdown before rising back to previous levels.

Q2 2014 Economic Sentiment Report

  • Consumer confidence rose across all income groups except those making between $25-$35K. While those making $25-$35k fell, they also experienced the highest increase in Q1’14, suggesting the fall might simply be a reversion to the mean.
  • Age: While younger people remain the most confident, those between 35-65 years old saw the largest gains in Q2’14. Unlike in Q1’14, young people saw little gains in confidence. Meanwhile, those between 35 and 65 years old saw strong gains in Q2’14.
  • Region: With the largest gains since Q2’13, people on the West Coast remain the most economically confident among people in all regions. However, regional trends show consistent gains across the country.
  • Residence: Rural residents still lag in confidence. Meanwhile, confidence of those living in the suburbs fell year-over-year.
  • Education: Improvements in confidence have been uniform across education levels. Those with educations of high school level or less saw the largest increase in confidence, from 40 to 42.
  • Occupation: Virtually all occupations saw an increase in confidence in Q2’14 except for operations and sales. Homemakers saw the largest increase in confidence, from 43 to 46.
  • Unlike the employed, confidence among unemployed have not reached levels from a year ago. Confidence among the unemployed rose 3 points in Q2’14, up to 39 from 36 in Q1’14. For the employed, confidence rose 2 points from 47 to 49 during the same period.

View the full report in PDF format. (no login needed)