Despite slow jobs growth and lagging market indicators, American economic confidence may actually be at its highest level since 2008, a Gallup poll released this week finds. 

In its weekly polling of American confidence in the economy, Gallup found a confidence index rating of -16—while negative, it is still far above the -54 rating seen in mid-2001. 

“Americans’ economic confidence has been on a long, steady climb out of the doldrums it fell into last summer, and the record-high -16 reached last week is certainly positive on a relative basis,” Gallup wrote in its report. “However, the pace of improvement has slowed in recent months, meaning it could be months before the index is in fact positive.” 

The Gallup Economic Confidence Index is an average of two components of consumers’ psychology: Americans’ ratings of current economic conditions and their perceptions of whether the economy is getting better or getting worse, Gallup writes. 

Written by Elizabeth Ecker