Inflation has sapped 40 per cent of Americans of their pandemic savings, making consumer spending even more reliant on the job market.
Generous government stimulus payments and lock-downs that kept people at home led to “windfall” savings, Stephen Stanley, chief US economist at Santander US Capital Markets, said in a research note Monday. How much of it remains has been a moving target, with economists upping their estimate of pandemic-era savings last month after earlier saying it was nearly gone
“The prevailing view is that households got a big jackpot during the pandemic and spent like drunken sailors until the money ran out,” said Stephen Stanley, chief US economist at Santander. But, unfortunately, over the past two years, inflation has eaten up all their accumulated funds.
Bloomberg
