NEW YORK - The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index^®, which had improved in May, increased again in June. The Index now stands at 81.4 (1985=100), up from 74.3 in May.  The Present Situation Index increased to 69.2 from 64.8. The Expectations Index improved to 89.5 from 80.6 last month.

The monthly Consumer Confidence Survey^®, based on a probability-design random sample, is conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and analytics around what consumers buy and watch. The cutoff date for the preliminary results was June 13.

Says Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board: “Consumer Confidence increased for the third consecutive month and is now at its highest level since January 2008 (Index 87.3). Consumers are considerably more positive about current business and labor market conditions than they were at the beginning of the year. Expectations have also improved considerably over the past several months, suggesting that the pace of growth is unlikely to slow in the short-term, and may even moderately pick up.”

Consumers’ assessment of current conditions continued to improve in June. Those stating business conditions are “good” held steady at 19.1 percent, while those saying business conditions are “bad” decreased to 24.9 percent from 26.0 percent. Consumers’ appraisal of the job market was also more positive. Those claiming jobs are “plentiful” increased to 11.7 percent from 9.9 percent, while those claiming jobs are “hard to get” edged up to 36.9 percent from 36.4 percent.

Consumers’ expectations regarding the short-term outlook improved again in June. Those expecting business conditions to be better over the next six months increased to 20.3 percent from 18.7 percent, while those expecting business conditions to worsen decreased to 11.4 percent from 12.2 percent.

Consumers’ outlook for the labor market was also more optimistic. Those anticipating more jobs in the months ahead improved to 19.6 percent from 16.3 percent, while those anticipating fewer jobs decreased to 16.1 percent from 20.0 percent. The proportion of consumers expecting their incomes to increase dipped slightly to 15.2 percent from 15.6 percent, while those expecting a decrease declined to 14.4 percent from 15.3 percent.