(David McNew/Getty Images)By Sandra M. Jones | Even as retail sales are improving over last year, the surge of consumer spending needed for a strong recovery is nowhere in sight, according to a new report.
More than 60 percent of consumers say they shop only when they need something, according to a consumer behavior survey conducted this month by America’s Research Group and UBS Global Equity Research.
The survey also found 39 percent of consumers saying they can afford to shop for fun, down from 68 percent a decade ago.
Economists have been looking for signs that consumers will come roaring back, but consumer behavior expert Britt Beemer predicts they won’t do much to help this recovery.
“Families have little disposable income today,” said Beemer, CEO and founder of America’s Research Group in Charleston, S.C., “and every day brings new problems that raise doubts and fears about the economy and their financial futures.”
Indeed, only 12 percent of shoppers are using their credit cards for purchases as they try to pare down household debt, the report said. And two out of three consumers say debt is a “problem.”
With unemployment at 9.9 percent in April, job worries remain high. Most Americans expect to work three to seven years longer than just four years ago, the survey said. And though the majority of consumers don’t expect layoffs, only 60 percent are excited about job prospects.
“Until job prospects improve considerably, consumers will continue their unenthusiastic shopping behavior,” said Beemer.
The survey of 1,000 consumers was conducted by telephone May 1 to 4. The error factor is plus or minus 3.8 percent.
The downbeat report comes as economists are predicting sales at U.S. retailers to rise in April for a seventh straight month, according to Bloomberg News. The Commerce Department reports those figures Friday.
This is the best news I’ve heard in a long time– people are shopping when they NEED something and not using credit cards. Guess the government will have to think of some way to make products that other countries want so we can stop being so dependent on shopping our way into debt to make it look like the economy is thriving.
Oh, and about those jobs? Where are they? I’m not going to shop more until my job security is a little better.
Consumer spending down, do tell? Maybe if the USA made more of the imported stuff flooding in those potential domestic manufacturing value added jobs might support increased spending. Strange .. recently some of the business Cognitive Elite were pontificating on how wonderful it would be for the airlines to do their major overhaul work “overseas”. This would “save costs” compared to American certified mechanics. But those same Elite would bite their toe nails off in frustration when the highly skilled but now unemployed aircraft technician finds “work” at Wal-Mart and no longer spends – spends – spends like they did previously. Wonder why. Cosmic mystery. But not to worry, we now have a national economy of “services” and best of all, “information”.
Starstream, you forgot the military. WMD’s and porn were # 1 & 2 on the USA export parade. I’ll concede porn as a “service” but military stands alone. Should “information” be a subset to military?
This is a most humorous article. The simple fact is that debt is slowly swamping whole economies, with individual consumers beginning to act responsibly in “hunkering down.” This means they buy what they need and no more, and pay it off rather than roll over debt. If governments were to act one tenth as responsibly as consumers, there would be no bankruptcy threatening Harrisburg, no build down of the city of Detroit, and no massive government debt in Chicago, much less anywhere else. All God’s children got credit cards, but individual consumers have put theirs away. If only politicians were so smart.