As more Floridians are vaccinated and the economy returns to normal, a University of Florida survey finds that Florida residents are feeling more confident in their personal finances than they were just a month ago.
Florida’s consumer confidence score, a number between 2 and 150 that describes how people feel about their personal finances, stood at 80.7 this March, according to economists at the University of Florida. That’s well below the pre-pandemic figures, which hovered in the 90s or low 100s, but above the lowest, 76.3, last April.
“The recovery is far from complete, though the vaccine eligibility expansion recently announced, opening up eligibility to all adults, is expected to have a positive impact on Florida’s economic prospects in the short-run,” said the Director of UF’s Economic Analysis Program, Hector Sandoval. “Coupled with the arrival of the third stimulus check, which is expected to boost local economies, we anticipate an increased rate of recovery and further improvements in consumer sentiment in the coming months.”
But not everyone is equally optimistic about the future.
People over 60 in Florida were the least confident in their financial outlook a year from now, scoring just 76.2. And asked about their financial situation compared to a year ago, Florida women of all ages scored 18 points lower than men, at 58.9 compared to men’s 77.
Conducted between March 1 and March 25, the survey reached 427 Floridians representing a cross-section of the state’s demographics in race, gender and income.
Contact Sydney Boles at sboles@wjct.org, or on Twitter at @sydneyboles.
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