Ahead of the April consumer jobs report, economy watchers expect a mix of good and bad for consumers. Analysts predict the unemployment to lower but they are not expecting the slow economy to pick up. 

”I don't think it's going to get any better anytime soon,” Robert Badowski, Westminster College Chair of the School of Business said. “More people might be out there in the job force and working but until we can kind of get a control on prices and once the Fed gets control of inflation …  then I think that's when we’ll start to see a little bit of relief.”

Starting the second quarter, some have little hope of improvement for the future.

“We’re looking at some tough times to come ahead here within the summer season and with the fall depending on how those interest rates go will depend on how things will go for the next year,” Badowski said. “It looks to me like we might go into a mild recession.”

All of this coming at a time when consumer confidence is taking a plunge.

“Things do need to change or it's going to get a lot worse and who knows what happens from there,” Troy Whetstone of Hubbard said. 

“It's frustrating to see the price where gas has gone.” shopper Rodney Stanko said. “They’ve gone tremendously up. In some instances up to 50%.”

The high prices forcing some consumers to choose between one expense or the other. 

“I gotta not pay the gas to get food. I gotta not drive so much to pay my car payment,” Whetstone said. “It’s ridiculous. It's the worst I’ve ever seen it.”

With that decrease in spending things could stay at a slow pace for a while.

“I probably don’t foresee a lot of relief probably until we see what happens by the end of the year so maybe early next year,” Badowski said about when consumers will get a break.

The consumer job report comes out Friday, April. 7.