Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
Ready, set, rebound? Not for low-income Americans
COVID-19 | Economics | North America
June 9, 2021 – While consumer spending as a whole is set to rebound, the recovery is likely to be uneven. High-income households with members who could work remotely have seen their savings spike, and are already in a better position to spend. Low-income households will likely not return to 2019 spending levels by 2024, especially US families that have lost jobs and face income uncertainty.
To read the article, see “What’s next for consumers, workers, and companies in the post-COVID-19 recovery,” May 18, 2021.
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Visual form
Four-country segmented bar comparison.
Layout / body structure
The chart is split into four country panels – France, Germany, the UK, and the US – each with three income-segment bars arranged from low to high. Read left to right across the countries, and inside each country read the low, mid, and high bars together before comparing the country-level total shown above the panel.
What is being compared
The chart compares estimated change in consumer spending from 2019 to 2024 across low-, middle-, and high-income segments in four countries. It therefore compares both cross-country recovery and within-country income segmentation at the same time.
Measurement system
The vertical measure is change in consumer spending in percentage points. Dark bars below zero represent contraction for lower-income groups, lighter bars just above or near zero show muted middle-income change, bright blue bars on the right show the strongest positive change for high-income groups, and the large number above each country panel gives the overall change for that country.
Visible structure inside the graphic
Each country panel has three vertical bars anchored to a zero baseline, which makes the income gradient visible immediately. The low-income bar is negative in every country, the middle-income bar sits near flat, and the high-income bar is positive, with the US panel showing the most extreme spread from a deep negative low-income bar to the tallest positive high-income bar.
Main takeaway from the visual
Recovery in consumer spending is much more uneven in the United States than in the European countries shown because the US combines the deepest low-income decline with the strongest high-income gain. Europe shows the same direction of segmentation, but the gaps are visibly narrower and the overall country totals are much smaller than the US total.
Key standout values or extremes
The US panel has the highest overall change at plus 7.4 percentage points, driven by a plus 3.2 gain for high-income consumers and a minus 4.2 decline for low-income consumers. France totals plus 2.9 with bars at minus 1.6, plus 0.1, and plus 1.4; Germany totals plus 1.7 with minus 0.3, minus 0.2, and plus 1.4; and the UK totals plus 3.0 with minus 1.4, plus 0.2, and plus 1.6.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
This is a static chart image with no in-chart controls to operate.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart image is the full visual on this page.