**retail spending is the slowest since the last recession in...

**retail spending is the slowest since the last recession in 1991......warning bells for unemployment....to rise

extract....

CONSUMERS have gone on a spending strike that is undermining the retail sector and suggests the economic recovery is not as firmly established as the Reserve Bank believes.
Retail sales rose just 0.3 per cent in March and are no higher now than they were in May last year.

Excluding the introduction of the GST, it was the weakest retail sales growth since 1991, during the heart of the last recession.

Taking account of rapid population growth, retail spending per capita has been sliding

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/retail-sector-hurts-as-consumers-hold-back/story-e6frg6n6-1225863308015