Tuesday, December 16, 2003

The UWF/Listener Group Panel consumer sentiment results for October indicate that Pensacola residents are somewhat more optimistic about the economy than are respondents in the nation at large. The Index of Consumer Sentiment (ICS), a measure of consumers' overall attitudes about the economy, was 92.7. This is higher than the index reported for the nation, 89.6.

Two other indices were also calculated; one measuring current conditions and the other measuring future conditions. Local respondents were less optimistic than national respondents in their assessment of today's economy (93.6 versus 99.9, respectively). Local respondents were noticeably more optimistic about future conditions than were national respondents (index values of 92.2 versus 83, respectively).

The analysis is drawn from questions asked of 424 panel members in the UWF/Listener Group Panel. The Panel represents residents in the two-county Pensacola Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). Questions were asked in October 2003.

Using techniques comparable to the University of Michigan's Survey of Consumers, UWF researchers calculated three indices: the overall Index of Consumer Sentiments (ICS), the Index of Current Economic Conditions (ICC), and the forward-looking Index of Consumer Expectations (ICE). The index values will be recalibrated late in 2004 to permit easy comparison of changes over time in the two county area.   next section»