Following an uptick in July, consumer spending on apparel, footwear and home goods in the United States declined modestly in August, according to a new report released Friday by the U.S. by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).
Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) for clothing and footwear dipped a seasonally adjusted 0.02 percent in the month to $491.35 billion, while PCE on furnishings and durable household equipment fell 0.9 percent to $522.69 billion.
Earlier the month, a different data set from the Census Bureau showed that clothing and clothing accessory store sales increased 0.4 percent month over month seasonally adjusted and were up 3.7 percent unadjusted year over year. Furniture and home furnishings stores were down 1.3 percent month over month seasonally adjusted but up 0.1 percent unadjusted year over year.
“Household spending remains steady even as costs continue to rise,” National Retail Federation chief economist Jack Kleinhenz said at the time. “Consumers continuing to spend more each month points to the benefits of strong job and wage growth, and their use of pandemic savings to help handle persistent elevated prices. Consumers are showing their toughness, but they have limited options and cannot continue if prices do not begin to soften.”
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The BEA report showed overall PCE had increased 0.4 percent, or $67.5 billion, in August, reflecting a gain of $96.9 billion in spending for services that was partly offset by a decrease of $29.4 billion in spending for goods, BEA noted. Within goods, spending for gasoline and other energy goods was the leading contributor to the decrease. Within services, the largest contributors to the increase were spending for housing and utilities, transportation and health care.
Real PCE, adjusted for inflation, rose 0.1 percent, as goods decreased 0.2 percent and services increased 0.2 percent. Within services, health care and transportation services were the leading contributors to the increase. Within goods, nondurable goods, including personal care products, newspapers, printed materials, other nondurable recreation items, recreational goods and vehicles were the leading contributors to the decrease, according to BEA.
The PCE price index was up 0.3 percent, while the core index, excluding food and energy, increased 0.6 percent. Prices for goods decreased 0.3 percent and prices for services increased 0.6 percent. Food prices rose 0.8 percent and energy prices fell 5.5 percent.
From the same month one year ago, the PCE price index for August increased 6.2 percent. Prices for goods rose 8.6 percent and prices for services were up 5 percent. Food prices increased 12.4 percent and energy prices were up 24.7 percent in the period. The PCE core price index increased 4.9 percent from one year ago.
Disposable personal income (DPI), a key gauge of retail spending, rose 0.4 percent, or $67.6 billion, in August, while real DPI increased 0.1 percent.
Personal income increased 0.3 percent, or $71.6 billion, in August, according to BEA estimates, reflecting advances in compensation, proprietors’ income and government social benefits that were partly offset by a decrease in personal interest income. The increase in compensation was led by private wages and salaries. Within private wages and salaries, an increase in services-producing industries was partly offset by a decrease in goods-producing industries.
Personal outlays increased $67.8 billion for the month. Personal saving was $652.8 billion in August and the personal saving rate–personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income–was 3.5 percent.