Americans' personal income rose 0.6 percent in November, helping to support the eighth straight advance in consumer spending as the holiday shopping season opened, the government said Thursday.
The Commerce Department said incomes totaled $5.51 trillion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, up from $5.48 trillion in October. It was the fourth straight rise.Disposable income - income after taxes - increased 0.6 percent, also the fourth gain in a row.
At the same time, consumer spending rose 0.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $4.49 trillion, from $4.47 trillion a month earlier.
Since incomes grew faster than expenditures, the report likely was encouraging to economists who have worried that lagging income growth earlier in the year would eventually curb spending and thus slow economic growth.
Consumer spending represents two-thirds of the nation's economic activity.