The American consumer may be losing steam after years of supporting the US economy with a surge of spending on everything from restaurant .
EY chief economist Gregory Daco recently commented that "consumers are becoming more conservative with their spending" due to rising prices, rising interest rates.
According to the Consumer Price Index, inflation has picked up speed. The newest data from the BLS shows that annual inflation in CPI was 3.7% in August, up from 3.2% in July.
Inflation has picked up, but it is still significantly below the 9.1% peak in June 2022 and the 6.4% annual rate seen in January.
The most recent employment report from the BLS shows that the United States added 187,000 jobs in August.
That expansion is less than the 352,000 jobs added in August 2022 or the average monthly expansion recorded in the first three months of 2023.
Wage growth is more promising than it was in the years leading up to the epidemic, although average hourly wages have not increased by as much as they did in the years .
The imminent restart, "the near depletion of excess savings, and tight credit conditions will further weigh on consumers' ability to spend going into next year," Daco added.