CONSUMER CONFIDENCE STILL AT RECESSION LEVEL

               

 

 Declines in family finances and negative assessments of economic conditions for the near-term produced an Index of Consumer Sentiment (ICS) of 67.9 in the February-March survey of households of the five county Peoria Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA),  off slightly from 69.2 last fall,

 

At the same time, a sharp improvement in confidence in government economic policies was recorded as the new administration took over in Washington. 

The ICS has been falling for two years, with recessionary levels reached in the survey of six months ago, when the local ICS reached levels comparable to those last found here during the national recession of 1990-91 (see chart above). 

 

        Local confidence remains above the levels experienced around the severe recession of 1981-1982, when the local confidence fell to its all time low of 53.6.

 

 

 

METHOD

 

The surveys of Peoria MSA economic attitudes are performed by Dr. Bernard Goitein, Director of Survey Research at Bradley University's Foster College of Business Administration.  Funding for the present survey was provided by the Turner Center for Entrepreneurship at Bradley University’s Foster College of Business Administration.

 

The survey results are based on telephone interviews with 210 households in the Peoria Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA: Peoria, Tazewell, Woodford, Marshall, and Stark Counties), performed during the evenings of February-March, 2009.    A random sample of 442 residential listings was drawn from area telephone directories, where listings were selected to give each a proportionate chance of being included.  Interviewers attempted to contact the designated respondent in each of the  homes, using up to six contact attempts during varied days and times of day in the survey period.

 

Using these procedures, 346 of the sampled respondents were reached and asked to participate, with 210 (61 percent of those contacted) who agreed to be interviewed. One adult, 18 years of age or older, was selected for interview in each of the 210 households. 

 

The chances are about seven in ten that if every residence listed in area directories had been approached using these questionnaire administration procedures, the percentages found to the survey questions would have differed from those observed in this sample by no more than 3.4 percentage points in either direction.  © Bradley University

 

For a complete report, contact the Study Director, Dr. Bernard Goitein (309-677-2262). 

 

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