Overall U.S. spending has weakened, and it has shifted increasingly toward necessities like groceries and away from discretionary items like home goods, casual clothes and electronics.
A customer wears a mask as she waits to get a receipt at a register in Target store in Vernon Hills, Ill., Sunday, May 23, 2021.
Still, Wednesday’s report contained some positive signs: Excluding autos and auto parts, retail sales rose 0.4% in July. Sales of building supplies and garden equipment held up, as did sales at electronics and appliance stores. Inflation continues to pose a severe hardship for many families. Though gasoline prices have fallen from their heights, food, rent, used cars and other necessities have become far more expensive, beyond whatever wage increases most workers have notched.
But the most important pillar of the economy — the job market — has proved durable. America’s employers added a hefty 528,000 jobs in July, and the unemployment rate reached 3.5%, matching a near-half-century low reached just before the pandemic erupted in the spring of 2020. It also noted that lower income customers were trading down within the store, for example swapping out sliced deli meats for hot dogs to save money.
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