Twin Cities holiday season forecast

Deloitte’s 23rd annual holiday survey of the Twin Cities holiday shopping season is out today. Fifty-two percent of consumers surveyed say they’re pessimistic about the economy. That’s a big headline, of course, but if Forty-eight percent are not, that may be a bigger one.

But most people are not worried about their jobs, according to the survey. Eighteen percent are concerned about a job loss, but that’s only up 2 percent from a year ago. Nonetheless, 60 percent of Twin Cities consumers expect to reduce spending for the holidays.

Twelve percent are still paying off last year’s holiday spending debt, but most of those surveyed say they’ll spend the same amount on gifts this year (average $461) as last year. The average person buys 22 gifts.

Here’s the national survey.

In September, the National Retail Federation predicted a meager 2.2-percent increase in holiday spending, but that was before the bottom fell out of the economy in October.