Consumer confidence dropped to its lowest level since February, according to a report from the Conference Board research group released Tuesday, as struggling business conditions and labor markets continued to weigh on consumers’ minds.

The Conference Board said consumer confidence fell to a reading of 48.5 in September compared with August’s reading of 53.2.

The reading was considerably worse than economists’ expectations, which were for a reading of 53.0, according to Thomson Reuters.

All aspects of the Conference Board’s survey declined, most notably the expectations index, which dropped to a reading 65.4 from last month’s reading of 72.0.

“Consumers’ confidence in the state of the economy remains quite grim,” said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board’s Consumer Research Center. “And, with so few expecting conditions to improve in the near term, the pace of economic growth is not likely to pick up in the coming months.”

In its survey, 46.1% of respondents said business conditions were “bad” compared with 42.3% a month before. On the jobs front, 46.1% of respondents said jobs were “hard to get” while the percentage of respondents saying jobs were “plentiful” fell to 3.8%.

Today’s consumer confidence reading follows a similar report put out by the University of Michigan earlier this month, which showed sentiment falling to its lowest reading since August 2009.