SAN RAFAEL, Calif.—It took seven years for consumers to regain financial confidence and return to the same level of money anxiety they had on the eve of the Great Recession, according to Dan Geller, who assembles the Money Anxiety Index.
The Money Anxiety Index, which measures consumers' level of financial worry and stress, stood at 65.9 for the January preliminary Index, reported Geller. He said that is about the same level at which the Index stood on the eve of the Great Recession.
Since then, the Money Anxiety Index has climbed to a high of 97.6 during the Great Recession, gradually declining to its current level.
A major factor in the gradual improvement is the continued positive news on employment, said Geller. The December employment figures show that the economy added 252,000 nonfarm jobs, and the unemployment rate dropped to 5.6 percent - the lowest it has been in the past 6 years. The November figures where upwardly revised to 353.000 new jobs, he explained.
Historically, the Money Anxiety Index fluctuated from a high of 135.3 during the recession of the early 1980s, to a low of 38.7 in the mid 1960s.
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