High gas prices have made Middle Tennessee residents pessimistic about the economy.
A Middle Tennessee State University found that overall consumer confidence fell 26 percent from April to May.
Office of Consumer Research Director, Tim Graeff found this interesting seeing that Middle Tennessee’s economy is doing better than the people think it is.
“The job market here is relatively healthy, but yet the number of people who thought that jobs were easy to find did go down. So, when you do surveys, you’re getting people’s reactions at the time they’re asked the survey question and what’s on their mind right at that point in time could be affected by something that’s just salient to them right then like the gas prices.”
Graeff says that some businesses may feel the result of the loss in confidence as people may cut down on other spending to make up for the cost of gas.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM