While inflation looms large over the American economy, consumers in New York State are more optimistic about their ability to buy household goods than they were a few months back, says the Albany Times Union.
This information comes from a recent poll conducted in November by the Siena College Research Institute (SCRI). The SCRI gathered data from 700 people and found that consumer spending sentiment in New York is more optimistic than the country as whole.
The New York State Index of Consumer Sentiment, compiled by the SCRI, rose 1.2 points to 73.1, whereas the national number, compiled by the University of Michigan, dropped 5.4 points to 67.4 in the same time frame.
Data from upstate New York, however, paints a different picture. The index number for upstate New York comes in at 64 points, well below the state and national averages. It appears that metro New York City is driving up the state’s index number, with the metro area’s index number for consumer optimism coming in at 78.2 points.
Notably, the threshold for consumer optimism is 100 points for both the state and national polls, meaning consumers across the board are well below this threshold in their willingness to spend money on household items. This is a trend that has persisted since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
FingerLakes1.com is the region’s leading all-digital news publication. The company was founded in 1998 and has been keeping residents informed for more than two decades. Have a lead? Send it to [email protected]