The effect has been a rapid growth in both consumer incomes and consumption opportunities.

One concern about the current recovery is that a tight job market might restrict consumer incomes and so choke off any spending increases.

One reason for consumers' resistance to price increases might be stalled growth in consumer income.

The big overhangs in the market are the issues of consumer incomes and psychology.

In part, this reflects his expectation of a slowdown in consumer income.

There have been good gains in consumer income - it increased by more than 1 percent in each of the last two months.

In the late 1980s and 1990s, a robust economy led to a rise in consumer income.

Meanwhile, consumer incomes, inflated by farm subsidy payments, rose 0.8 percent.

With consumer incomes under continued pressure and the outlook grim, this seems an odd time to consider the long-term growth of living standards.

"They are not likely to do much of anything, because for the past two quarters there have been declines in consumer income."