Weaker labor the key to lower spend and inflation

Consumer spending is challenged by a number of well-discussed factors including inflation and fading stimulus but there are some positives too. The prices of many goods are down from highs, minimum wages for several states rose at the start of the year and Social Security payments for '23 enjoyed an unusually big boost. Aditya Bhave and Robby Ohmes join us to discuss how these various drivers net out, the outlook for higher and lower income consumers, how the expected slowdown in labor markets is necessary to slow wages and how job losses should have a bigger impact on spend than the wealth effect had in 2022. Mike Dick from Specialist Sales will get into more detail with Robby on issues including to what degree a stretched consumer is trading down and whether it becomes harder for suppliers to push through price increases from here.

 

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