The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index for the US rose in December following moderate decreases in both November and October, The Conference Board announced today. The index rose to a reading of 96.5 (1985=100), up from a reading of 92.6 in November.

Consumers’ outlook for the labor market was particularly optimistic.

“Consumer confidence improved in December, following a moderate decrease in November,” said Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at The Conference Board. “As 2015 draws to a close, consumers’ assessment of the current state of the economy remains positive, particularly their assessment of the job market. Looking ahead to 2016, consumers are expecting little change in both business conditions and the labor market. Expectations regarding their financial outlook are mixed, but the optimists continue to outweigh the pessimists.” 

Those stating jobs are “plentiful” increased to 24.1% from 21.0% who said the same in November, and those claiming jobs are “hard to get” decreased to 24.7% from 25.8%. Those anticipating more jobs in the months ahead edged up to 12.9% from 12.0% in November, while those anticipating fewer jobs decreased to 16.6% from 18.5% in November.