Friday, February 19, 2016

The worker/consumer is alright: real retail sales and real compensation


 - by New Deal democrat

With this morning's report that consumer prices were unchanged in January, I can update several of my favorite series.

First of all, real retail sales as expected, increased to a new record:



Evidence that an intact consumer has continued.

More importantly, real average hourly income also increased to a new 35 year record:



And real aggregate income for workers increased to +19.5% from its 2009 recession low:



For comparision pursposes, this in only about 1% behind the 1980s Reagan recovery an equivalent number of months out from the 1982 bottom.

So, continued good news on the worker and consumer side of the ledger.