NEW YORK, May 28 (UPI) -- The Conference Board said on Tuesday consumer confidence in the nation's economy rose slightly in May as consumers became more upbeat about current business and labor conditions.
The private research group said its index measuring consumer confidence, which uses 1985 as a base of 100, rose 1.3 percentage points to 109.8 from a revised 108.5 in April, which was originally reported as 108.8. Most economists on Wall Street expected confidence to rise to 110.0 during the month.
Consumer confidence hit an all-time high of 144.7 in May of last year and sank to an eight-year low of 84.9 in November after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Economists watch the index because high confidence readings suggest consumers are in a mood to spend, and such spending accounts for about two-thirds of economic output.
The Board said the survey, which is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households, showed its present situation index climbed to 110.3 from 106.8 while its expectations index slipped to 109.4 from 109.6 a month earlier.
Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center, said, "Consumers' upbeat mood about current business and labor conditions underscores the economy's continuing recovery, but the latest retreat in expectations suggest that the pace of economic growth will not accelerate in the months ahead."
The Board said more than 21 percent of consumers rate current business conditions as good, up from 19.7 percent in April, and 18.8 percent label current conditions as bad, down from 19.4 percent in April.
The report showed some 20.9 percent of those polled said jobs are plentiful, the same figure recorded last month.
Consumers claiming jobs are difficult to get fell to 21.9 percent in May from 22.7 percent in April.
The report showed the outlook for the next six months remains cautiously optimistic.
Some 24.9 percent of those polled look for business conditions to improve, compared with 26 percent in April. Those expecting business conditions to deteriorate rose to 6.7 percent from 6.4 percent a month earlier.
A smaller percentage of consumers expect fewer jobs to become available -- 13.7 percent versus 14.8 percent in April.
The Board said that fewer consumers, or 20.6 percent today compared with 21.1 percent in April, expect their incomes to increase during the next six months.
