Consumers likely boosted U.S. retail spending in August for the fourth month in a row, but at a slower pace than earlier in the summer as the country continued to struggle with the coronavirus pandemic, the Wall Street Journal reported. Economists surveyed by the Journal forecast that retail sales increased a seasonally adjusted 1.1 percent in August from a month earlier. That would mark a slight cooling from the 1.2 percent increase recorded in July. Retail spending has continued to recover from the economic shock created by the pandemic, surpassing prepandemic levels in July. “It’s going to be tough to make further gains because levels are already pretty robust,” Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities said, referring to retail sales. Other parts of the economy are also digging back, though at different speeds. Industrial production increased in August for the fourth straight month, but remains well below levels seen before the pandemic. Employers have continued to add jobs across industries, but there are still 11.5 million fewer jobs than in February and the unemployment rate of 8.4 percent is well above the 3.5 percent level from before the pandemic.
