Consumer confidence fell again in July, a sign that the scarcity of jobs is keeping consumers pessimistic.

A monthly survey by the Conference Board showed that the organization’s confidence index dropped from 54.3 in June to 50.4 in July, according to a report released this morning.

“Concerns about business conditions and the labor market are casting a dark cloud over consumers that is not likely to lift until the job market improves,” said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board. “Given consumers’ heightened level of anxiety, along with their pessimistic income outlook and lackluster job growth, retailers are very likely to face a challenging back-to-school season.”

The portion of respondents to the Conference Board survey saying they expect fewer jobs in the coming months rose by one percentage point to 21.1 percent. The number of people saying jobs are plentiful remained the same, and those saying jobs are hard to find rose by 2.3 percentage points to 45.8 percent.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment in the United States continues to hover around 9.5 percent nationally and 6.8 percent in Iowa. Metropolitan-area data on unemployment for June will be released Wednesday.

The 2010 MetLife Study of the American Dream, released Monday, also showed that Americans are still pessimistic about economic recovery, with most predicting that a full recovery is at least three years down the road.

The MetLife study found that consumers are stretching themselves thin, with 55 percent of respondents to the survey saying they couldn’t pay for more than two months of expenses if they lost their job.

Guy LeBas, chief fixed-income strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, told Bloomberg that the job market will continue to struggle until 2013, and during that time retailers will continue to see “weaker purchases.”