NEW YORK, United States — Consumer confidence slipped this month as more Americans worried that the job market is worsening.

The latest survey from Conference Board showed a decline even after reports are showing that people increased their holiday spending at the biggest rate in four years and other indicators suggest the economy is brightening.

The private research group said yesterday its Consumer Confidence Index fell to 52.5 in December, down from a revised 54.3 in November. Economists were expecting 55.8. The decline reverses two consecutive months of increases. It takes a reading of 90 to indicate a healthy economy, a level not approached since the recession began in 2007.

People are less confident even though layoffs are slowing, businesses are buying more goods, and consumers are spending more money. Economists have raised their growth forecasts for the final months of the year and 2011.

Still, home prices fell in America’s largest cities and are expected to decline further next year. Every city in the Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller 20-city home price index showed a monthly price decline in October from September– the first time that has happened since Feb. 2009.

And the unemployment rate increased to 9.8 per cent in November from 9.6 per cent in October.

“Although the economy is growing again, consumer attitudes are lagging behind broader economic developments,” said Steven Wood, chief economist at Insight Economics. Woods said people are more concerned with high unemployment, falling home prices and the number of foreclosures.

Economists watch confidence closely because consumer spending accounts for about 70 per cent of US economic activity.

One measure of the Confidence Index, which assesses how shoppers feel now about the economy, declined to 23.5 in December, from 25.4 in November. The other barometer, which measures how shoppers feel about the economy over the next six months, fell to 71.9 from 73.6 in November.