Thomson Reuters : University of Michigan: Healthy Job Growth

Monitoringtrendsfoor ve6r 0years

June 27, 2014

returned to positive economic growth. The dismissal of
the economy's poor performance was made possible by healthy job growth. Indeed, the June survey recorded the largest proportion of households that reported making financial gains in nearly seven years.

More consumers reported that their financial situation had improved in the June survey than anytime since 2007. The proportion of households that reported improved finances over the past year was 40% in June, up from 35% one month and one year ago. Consumers, however, were a bit less optimistic about their future financial pro-
spects. Just one-in-four households expected their finances to improve in the year ahead in the June survey. The
biggest concerns were focused on expected wage growth, which most households expected would not exceed the inflation rate, meaning that nearly half of all households anticipated declining living standards.

Since most home buyers must sell their current home, home selling conditions are critical. In the June 2014 sur- vey, half of all homeowners reported home selling conditions were favorable for the first time in eight years, with the largest proportion since the May 2006 survey reporting home prices had improved making the sale more
attractive. Moreover, the smallest proportion reported that they would lose money if they sold their home.

The Sentiment Index was 82.5 in the June 2014 survey, between the 81.9 in May and last June's 84.1. During the first half of 2014, the Sentiment Index remained remarkably stable. The largest June gains were recorded in the Current Conditions Index (96.6, up from May's 94.5). The

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Richard T. Curtin • Director, Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers • Phone 734.763.5224

Thomson Reuters PR Hotline: 646.223.7222 ext. 1 • http://press.sca.isr.umich.edu

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Established in 1948, the Institute for Social Research (ISR) at the University of Michigan is among the world's oldest social science research organizations, and a world leader in the development and application
of social science methodology. The ISR conducts some of the most widely-cited surveys and studies in the
nation, including the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers, the American National Election Studies, the Monitoring the Future Study, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the Health and Retirement Study, and the National Survey of Black Americans and the World Values Surveys. ISR is also home to the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), the world's largest computerized social science data archive.

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