Fewer Consumers See Declines in Income, Assets

Ann Arbor, MI, June 18, 2010--Fewer consumers saw drops in their income and assets in the first half of 2010 compared with all of 2009, and more consumers are expecting a fall in unemployment in the year ahead, according to the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers.

The data overall indicates that while the pace of consumer spending could slow through 2010, a renewed and sustained downturn in spending is not likely.

"Consumers will continue to make their discretionary purchases contingent on the availability of discounts," Richard Curtin, director of the surveys, said in a statement.

The proportion of consumers in the survey who spontaneously reported declines in their incomes and assets dropped to 44 percent in the first half of 2010 from its all-time peak of 50 percent in 2009, the report said.

Still, the 2010 percentage was higher than in any year before 2009, going back as far as 1946 when the question was first included in the survey, it said.