Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1
Consumer Confidence and Buying Plans; Summary of Previous 36 Months
Consumer Confidence Buying Plans
Overall Current Future Car/ Major Home
Index Index Index Truck Computer Furniture Home Improvement
Feb 2008 62.4 65.6 60.3 10.1% 11.1% 17.4% 4.0% 15.4%
Feb 2009 60.8 58.0 62.5 9.5% 13.1% 15.7% 4.4% 14.1%
Feb 2010 65.6 66.0 65.5 9.5% 13.9% 16.9% 4.6% 14.5%
Feb 2011 67.7 67.8 67.6 11.4% 15.0% 22.7% 4.0% 16.6%
3 Year
5.3 2.2 7.3 1.3 3.9 5.3 0.0 1.2
Difference
76.5 75.8 76.9 12.4% 16.3% 22.7% 4.7% 18.0%
Highest (Jan 11) (Jan 11) (Jan 11) (Jan 11) (May 10 (Jan 11 & (Aug 08 & (Mar 10)
& Dec 10) Feb 11) May 10)
51.6 49.7 49.9 7.0% 7.4% 10.3% 2.0% 10.9%
Lowest (Oct 08) (Oct 08) (Jun 08) (Aug 10) (Oct 08) (Nov 08) (Jul 10 & (Nov 08)
Aug 10)
“Confidence eroded in February among every demographic group. It didn’t matter, looking back or looking forward,
New Yorkers once again feel this month that the economy is conspiring against them. Concern over the cost of
gasoline rose for the fifth consecutive month and prices were rising sharply as February ended. Now with food prices
set to escalate, the percentage of New Yorkers feeling pinched by both the pump and the checkout line, already
flirting with fifty percent for the first time since 2008, is sure to move even higher,” according to Dr. Lonnstrom.
The following chart shows the percentage of New York State residents that report a hardship from 1) gasoline prices, 2) food
prices, and 3) both gas and food prices from June 2008 through February 2011
Percentage of New Yorkers Expressing Gas, Food and Gas and Food Hardship, 2008 - 2011
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
The SRI survey of Consumer Confidence was conducted in February 2011 by random telephone calls to 842 New York State residents over the
age of 18. As consumer confidence is expressed as an index number developed after statistical calculations to a series of questions, “margin of
error” does not apply. Buying plans, which are shown as a percentage based on answers to specific questions, do have a margin of error of + 3.4
points. For more information or comments, please call Dr. Douglas Lonnstrom, Siena College professor of finance and statistics and SRI
Founding Director, at 518-783-2362 (office) or 518-456-6073 (home). Survey cross-tabulations and buying plans can be found at
www.siena.edu/sri/cci. SRI is an independent, non-partisan research institute. SRI subscribes to the American Association of Public Opinion
Research (AAPOR) Code of Professional Ethics and Practices.
2
Index of Consumer Sentiment, U.S. and New York, 1999-Present
115.0
105.0
U.S.
95.0
85.0
75.0
New York
65.0
55.0
45.0