NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. consumers turned gloomier in October, beset by soaring energy costs, relentless violence in Iraq, sluggish hiring and an increasingly bitter presidential campaign.

The Conference Board's gauge of consumer confidence fell to 92.8 in October, the lowest in seven months, from 96.7 in September, the private business group said on Tuesday. The reading was below economists' expectations for a dip to 94.0.

The main index was dragged down mainly by the consumer expectations component, which tumbled to 92.0 from 97.7. The current conditions index slipped to 94.2 from 95.3.

"Consumers are more concerned about the future than they are about current conditions and I think that has a lot to do with the high oil prices we're seeing and probably some of the election rhetoric," said Gary Thayer, chief economist at A.G. Edwards & Sons in St. Louis.

In one slightly positive sign, 27.8 percent of consumers surveyed said jobs were "hard to get," down a touch from 28.0 percent a month before. Nearly 34 percent had said employment was hard to find a year ago.

Despite strong economic growth, businesses are cautious about hiring workers while faced with record oil prices and steep health care costs.

"While consumers' assessment of the labor market showed a moderate improvement, the gain was not sufficient to ease concerns about job growth in the months ahead," Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center, said in a statement.

Analysts and traders scrutinize consumer confidence gauges for hints on the outlook for spending, which drives two-thirds of the U.S. economy.

Households have consistently shopped for homes, cars and other goods despite worries over the economy, with low interest rates fueling borrowing, but some economists worry that weak hiring could undermine spending by debt-laden consumers.

Low mortgage rates helped boost existing home sales 3.1 percent in September to the third-highest pace on record, according to a report on Monday.

Two reports on Tuesday showed retail sales at U.S. chain stores slipping in the latest week but still up between 3 percent and 4 percent compared to the same period a year ago.

"We are watching the consumer with an eagle eye right now, looking for cracks in the armor. But chain store sales so far this month have been, if anything, slightly above plan," said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at RBS Greenwich Capital in Greenwich, Connecticut.

"There is little to suggest that household spending is on the verge of a collapse," he said.

Markets mostly ignored the confidence data, with stock indexes gaining on a retreat in crude oil prices below $55 a barrel.

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