After a brief flirtation with good cheer, US consumer confidence is on the back foot again.

在短暂乐观情绪之后，美国消费者信心再次受到打击。

The latest Forbes Advisor-Ipsos Consumer Confidence Biweekly Tracker dropped 4% from two weeks ago to 53.1. That’s a solid 7 points below its pre-pandemic level.

最 新的福布斯益普索消费者信心双周追踪调查显示，消费者信心指数较两周前下降4%至53.1，较疫情前水平下降了7个百分点。

The increased pessimism dovetails with the 63% of respondents who said that they believe inflation will go up in the near future.

消费者对美国经济愈加悲观，63%的受访者认为在不久的将来通胀将继续上升。

“Inflation is on the top of everyone’s mind,” said Jason Gordo, managing director at Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management. “We’re all buying food.”

高盛个人金融管理公司总经理杰森·戈多称：“所有人都非常关心通货膨胀问题，因为我们都要购买食物。”

Given how hard it will be to tamp down price growth, consumers are likely to be in a sour mood for a long while.

考虑到抑制物价增长的难度，消费者的消极情绪可能会持续很长一段时间。

Weak Consumer Confidence Despite the Strong Jobs Market

就业市场强劲 消费者信心薄弱

American consumers are dissatisfied with their financial situation despite a robust job market.

尽管就业市场强劲，但美国消费者对自己的财务状况并不满意。

The jobs index of the Forbes Advisor-Ipsos survey held steady over the past two weeks, and remains well above its historical average.

福布斯益普索调查的就业指数在过去两周保持稳定，远高于历史平均水平。

That jibes with the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) jobs data, which reported an unemployment rate of 3.6% in March. Meanwhile, initial jobless claims have fallen to their lowest level since 1968.

这与美国劳工统计局最 新的就业数据相符，该机构报告3月份的失业率为3.6%。与此同时，首次申请失业救济人数已降至1968年以来的最低水平。

But the survey’s current index, which gauges how people feel about their finances right now, dropped 4 points over the last two week, and is now more than 10 points lower than where it stood in March 2020.

但该调查的当前消费者信心指数(衡量人们目前对财务状况的看法)在过去两周下降了4个百分点，较2020年3月的水平降低了10个点以上。

The continuing impact of high inflation is the most likely candidate for the weaker current index. The most recent survey was conducted shortly after the March consumer price index (CPI) data, which showed annualized CPI inflation up 8.5%, another four-decade high.

当前指数走弱最可能是受到美国高通胀的持续影响。最近一次调查前不久发布了3月消费者价格指数(CPI)，该数据显示，CPI年化通胀率上升8.5%，创下美国40年来历史新高。

And while wages are seeing strong growth, they’re still being eroded by inflation. Real earnings—that is pay adjusted for the impact of annual inflation—dropped 2.7% from March 2021 to March 2022, per the BLS.

虽然工资增长强劲，但仍受到通货膨胀的侵蚀。根据美国劳工统计局数据，从2021年3月到2022年3月的实际收入(即根据年度通货膨胀的影响进行调整的薪酬)下降了2.7%。

Americans continue to see their purchasing power eroded by price increases. That means more consumers may now avoid the kinds of big-ticket purchases they had been making during the pandemic, especially as supply chain snarls continue to disrupt product availability.

美国民众的购买力继续被物价上涨所侵蚀。这意味着更多的消费者现在可能会避免在疫情期间购买高价商品，尤其是在供应链混乱继续扰乱产品供应的情况下。

In fact, just 38% of survey respondents said they were more comfortable making a big purchase than they were six months ago, down six percentage points from the prior survey. That’s bad news for the US economy, and attitudes like these may be contributing to talk about the possibility of a renewed recession.

事实上，只有38%的受访者表示，与六个月前相比，他们更愿意进行大额消费，较之前的调查下降了6个百分点。这对美国经济来说是个坏消息，像这样的消费者情绪可能会让人们担心再次出现经济衰退的可能性。

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