U.S. consumers,
constrained by weak job creation and paltry wage increases, pulled back on
shopping in May, sending retail sales lower for a second straight
month.
The Commerce
Department says retail sales dipped 0.2 percent in May. That followed a revised
0.2 percent decline April. The back-to-back declines were the first in two
years.
The flat
spending suggests slow job growth and paltry wage increases may be leading
consumers to pull back on spending.
Economists worry
that consumer spending may further weaken if hiring and pay doesn’t pick up.
Consumer spending makes up 70 percent of economic activity in the United States.
The Globe and Mail
U.S. job growth
has slowed since the start of the year. Employers added 226,000 jobs on average
during the first three months of the year; they have added an average of 73,000
jobs a month since April. FT In the
January-March quarter, overall economic growth slowed to an annual rate of 1.9
per cent, down from a 3 per cent rate of increase in the October-December
period. AP Americans'
confidence in the economy declined slightly last week, on the heels of a
disappointing jobs report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Gallup Almost one in
seven Americans are living below the poverty line, with an alarming number of
children, nearly one in five, living in poverty, according to statistics
presented at a U.S. Senate committee hearing last week.
theepochtimes.com
AHT/ARA
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