Small Business Finance News
Though Not Expecting Recovery, Americans More Confident In Government, Savings
Written by Jenna Weiner
Published: 7/15/2009
Though consumers do not expect the recession to end anytime soon, job loss concerns and the savings rate have held steady while government confidence improved.
Considering the low sales numbers and tightening credit stories that fill the news, for small business owners it may seem as if the recession is far from over. The sentiment has trickled down into American consumer optimism, a new Financial Times/Harris Interactive poll found, with the majority of Americans believing that the recession will not end for one or two years.
The survey, released this week, found that 43 percent of Americans believe recovery is one or two years away, compared to 6 percent who believe it will happen within the next six months.
However, there are signs of increased optimism.
The survey found that an increasing number of Americans are more satisfied with the government's handling of the global financial crisis than they were in November - an improvement of 21 percent.
In addition, expectations of an improved standard of living have slightly increased since November, and concerns over job losses have stabilized.
Most encouraging to small business owners may be the news that personal spending habits have not increased as much as has been reported - 47 percent of Americans say their monthly savings rate has stayed the same in the past six months.
This data is an improvement on May's personal savings rate, released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis last month, which found that the savings rate increased 1.3 percent since April - a difference of $160 billion.
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