– by New Deal democrat Once again there is no significant economic news on a Monday, so let’s take a look at the important data I am especially interested in later this week. Consumption leads employment, and since consumption is about 70% of the US economy, any downturn in consumption is important, as it directly affects […]

Real retail sales signal further expansion, but also continue to suggest slower payrolls growth ahead Nominal retail sales for the month of April were up 0.9%, and previous months were revised higher. That means that, after inflation, real retail sales for April were up 0.6%, a very positive number. Yesterday I wrote that, rather than […]

Real aggregate payrolls and sales There seems to be some pushback against the narrative that real wages have declined, based on compositional effects (lower pay occupations vs. higher pay occupations). While some of that is true (for example, 5/6’s of all leisure and hospitality losses have been recovered, vs. 3.4% actual job *gains* since February […]