Are Lower Black Friday Sales a Good Sign for the U.S. Economy?

For many, the annual Black Friday chaos commences the official beginning of the season. Retailers throughout the United States begin to enhance their efforts to sell by offering greater discounts and opening earlier to attract more shoppers. Often times, the general consensus seems to be that heavy spending on Black Friday is a sparkling sign for the American economy. However, less reliance upon seasonal discounts for consumerism would indicate a more confident customer, and better economic health overall. 

For many, the annual Black Friday chaos commences the official beginning of the season. Retailers throughout the United States begin to enhance their efforts to sell by offering greater discounts and opening earlier to attract more shoppers. Often times, the general consensus seems to be that heavy spending on Black Friday is a sparkling sign for the American economy. However, less reliance upon seasonal discounts for consumerism would indicate a more confident customer, and better economic health overall. 

Lower gas prices and a somewhat improved economy despite no Keystone, regulations curtailing offshore drilling and fracking on federal lands hurting job growth, high taxes, and so on, could prove to be a significant influence on the spending behavior of consumers, especially those who suffer with smaller budgets and lower incomes. 

Rather than focusing on the amount of money that could be made through Black Friday for the economy, the U.S. may benefit from finding ways for consumers to rely less on discounts, as consumer spending makes up approximately 70% of the economy. 

The Benefit of Fewer Black Friday Purchases

Even if the numbers indicate that Black Friday purchases are not as excessive as they have been in previous years, this does not necessarily suggest that the U.S. economy is pitiful even though it could be improved with a few simple moves in which the White House does not believe. In fact, less spending during money-based holidays such as these could suggest improvement.

History implies that the better an economy, the less its residents depend on discounts. Data provided by the National Federation for retailers has revealed that Black Friday shopping is strongly affected by the behavior of the overall economy. During the recession of 2008, shoppers spent 7.2% more over Thanksgiving weekend than they had the year before. However, in 2013, shopping fell approximately 3.9%. 

Black Friday Deals and Income

At the higher end of the income ladder, consumers are typically found to be less dependent on Thanksgiving sales, and many actually stay away from the deals in an attempt to avoid the chaos. That less consumers show up to take advantage of Black Friday results in a less volatile atmosphere for spending and that has prompted some economists to hope for reduced numbers this year. 

Recent reports have confirmed that the economy in America has made significant improvements throughout 2014 despite regulations such as Dodd-Frank killing jobs and small businesses and other hurtful regulations. One report has suggested that development in the second and third quarters of this year was more substantial than any other six-month period in more than a decade.  This despite millions of still unemployed Americans that every city in America knows is the case if they want to acknowledge the truth. Certainly, this is in cities such as New York, Chicago, and LA.

Playing with the Numbers

Furthermore, the department of labor released numbers indicating that the country’s unemployment rate is at its lowest point in six years, with monthly job gains stronger than they have been in almost fifteen years. But can these numbers be believed? As already stated, millions of Americans are out of work and because of the Affordable Care Act, full time employees are being dropped to thirty hour work weeks. The federal government does not count people that are no longer on unemployment and have given up finding work as unemployed. There are millions of people in this category. So the low unemployment numbers being reported is nothing to write home about. 

According to a recent report, around 96% of consumers have said that discounts are important to them when it comes to making a decision about purchases. However, at the same time, 28% of people report greater incomes in comparison with 2013, and 22% have mentioned they feel a little better in terms of job security. Conditions in America could be worse, like they are in France.