Confidence in economic growth is declining among members of the Air Conditioning Contractors of America. The ACCA’s Contractor Comfort Index declined for a third consecutive month in September.

The association began measuring contractor attitudes toward short-term economic growth with the CCI in February of this year. For September, the CCI is 57, down from 61 in August. Even with the decline, the index still shows that contractors anticipate short-term growth, said ACCA representatives.

While contractors are continuing a cautious outlook, in its first eight months, the CCI has increased 4 percent.

The CCI is calculated based on a survey of the association's contractor members, who are asked how positive they feel about new business prospects, existing business activity, and expected staffing decisions in the short-term future. Weighted and averaged into one number, a CCI of 50 or above reflects anticipated growth.

The CCI is released prior to the start of each month. The next index number will be released during the last week of October.