The consumer confidence index grew to 92.6 in December from a revised 91.0 last month, The Conference Board reported Tuesday.
The November index was originally reported as 88.7.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters predicted a 93.0 reading for the index.
The present situation index gained to 98.6 from a revised 93.7, first reported as 91.3, while the expectations index slipped to 88.5 from a revised 89.3, first reported as 87.0.
"Consumer confidence rebounded modestly in December, propelled by a considerably more favorable assessment of current economic and labor market conditions," said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board's Consumer Research Center. "As a result, the Present Situation Index is now at its highest level since February 2008 (Index, 104.0). Consumers were moderately less optimistic about the short-term outlook in December, but even so, they are more confident at year-end than they were at the beginning of the year."
Business conditions were called "good" by 24.8% of respondents in December, unchanged from November. Those saying conditions are "bad" slid to 19.6% from 21.8%.
The percentage of consumers expecting a pickup in business conditions in the next half year slipped to 18.0% from 18.3%, while 10.1% said they expect conditions to worsen, down from 10.4% in the prior month.
On the jobs front, those who believe jobs are "plentiful" grew to 17.1% in December from 16.2% in November, while the number saying jobs are "hard to get" fell to 27.7% from 28.7%. The respondents who see fewer jobs becoming available in a half year, increased to 16.9% from 16.1%. Those expecting more jobs to become available fell to 14.7% from 15.5%, The Conference Board reported.
The consumer confidence survey is based on a probability design random sample by the Nielsen Company.
