Consumer confidence in the United States fell this month, a benchmark survey showed, amid continued tame inflation and a continued trend toward jobless people giving up in the search for work.

The Consumer Confidence Index, based on a long-running monthly survey commissioned by the New York-based Conference Board, a business think tank, dipped in September to 79.7, down from 81.8 last month.

The leading measure of US consumer sentiment, set at 100 in 1985, was at 65.9 in July 2012.

Conference Board economist Lynn Franco attributed this month’s small decline to increased “concerns about the short-term outlook for both jobs and earnings.”

“While overall economic conditions appear to have moderately improved, consumers are uncertain that the momentum can be sustained in the months ahead,” she said.

For the 12 months through August, the consumer inflation was 1.5 per cent, the US Labour Department reported last week.

August saw 500,000 people dropped out of the job market, one of the highest numbers in months, bringing down the unemployment rate to a five-year low of 7.3 per cent.

Amid the signs of weakness, the rate-setting US Federal Reserve last week decided to maintain the pace of its extraordinary monetary policy, continuing to buy Government bonds at a pace of $85 billion a month.

Fed Chief Ben Bernanke said the central bank might not raise its benchmark interest rate, at an unprecedented near-zero since December 2008, even if unemployment drops below a target of 6.5 per cent for tightening monetary policy, if inflation remains significantly under 2 per cent.

The Fed lowered its projection for 2013 to a range of 2.0 to 2.3 per-cent growth in gross domestic product, from an expectation in September of 2.3 to 2.6 per cent. The central bank’s forecast for 2014 was 2.9 to 3.1 per cent, down from 3 to 3.5 per cent.

Second-quarter GDP growth was at an annualised pace of 2.5 per cent, the US Commerce Department said last month.

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