Consumer spending or retail sales were both up and down in July. The latest data on our spending habits was issued a few days ago by StatsCan and, in gross figures, they were up.
Normally, that would be good news but when inflation is the over-arching factor in spending, we have to take a second look. And, it turns out, we were actually cutting back.
The total volume of dollars we consumers spent in July was up – marginally across Canada and almost a full percentage point in Saskatchewan – but the volume of stuff we bought went down. In other words, we spent more to get less.
And while that is not a surprise to any consumer, it is useful to get the numbers to see just how much of a bite inflation is taking out of our spending power.
The west coast port strike messed up the numbers a bit but the big factors were higher spending on food and beverages while sales for the automotive industry – everything from buying cars to parts and especially gasoline – were down.
