Personal income growth slowed sharply in May and people’s spending didn’t increase at all, the government reported Thursday.
The Commerce Department said that personal incomes rose a slight 0.2 percent last month, far below the 0.6 percent increase in April. The slowdown was attributed to the weak increase in jobs last month.
In a second report, the department said that America’s net debtor position rose a sharp 15.2 percent in 2004, underscoring the deterioration in the country’s international balance sheets.
In a third report, the Labor Department said the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week for a second straight week. The drop last week was 6,000, to a total number of new claims of 310,000, the lowest level since mid-April.
