Americans are losing faith in the job market.
The Conference Board's consumer confidence index for November unexpectedly fell to 90.4. Economists had estimated that the index rose to 99.5 in November, from a revised 99.1 (up from 97.6) in the prior month.
The Conference Board's Lynn Franco explained:
"The decline was mainly due to a less favorable view of the job market. Consumers' appraisal of current business conditions, on the other hand, was mixed. Fewer consumers said conditions had improved, while the proportion saying conditions had deteriorated also declined.
Heading into 2016, consumers are cautious about the labor market and expect little change in business conditions."
The report showed that the share of consumers expecting more jobs in the coming months fell to 11.6% from 14.4%, while those expecting fewer jobs rose to 18.7% from 16.6%.
The US economy added 271,000 jobs in October, the strongest pace of employment growth this year. However, the trend in the pace of jobs growth this year has been downward.
The second estimate of third-quarter gross domestic product released earlier on Tuesday showed that consumer spending continued to be an engine of US economic growth.