BofA Consumer Chief: Spending Jumps 6.3% With Wage Growth Across “All Income Groups”

On CNBC on July 10, Bank of America Institute head Liz Everett Krisberg summed up the latest Consumer Checkpoint report, saying that we’re seeing: “The fastest growth we’ve seen in four years. But what’s really interesting in the headline beyond that is how broad the strength was. It wasn’t just one consumer group. It was all income groups. It wasn’t just one category. It was services and retail.”

Credit and debit card spending rose 6.3% in June from a year earlier, with double-digit gains in discretionary services like leisure and airlines. Lower-income wage growth also jumped a full percentage point to 4.1%, virtually closing the gap with the 4.2% growth recorded among higher-income consumers. If Krisberg is right, the labor market still favors workers, which means there could be a better environment today than a year ago for a raise or a new job.

Consumer Spending Is Growing at Its Fastest Rate in Four Years

Krisberg’s read aligns with broader consumer data. Retail sales hit $763.7 billion in May 2026, the top of the past 12 months and the 90th percentile of the historical range. Credit card delinquencies actually ticked down to about 3% in January 2026, so the spending is not being funded by people falling behind.

Nonfarm payrolls reached about 159 million in June 2026, the highest reading in the series, and unemployment fell to 4.2% that same month.

However, the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index sat at 44.8 in May 2026, below the 60 line typically associated with a recession. That means people are spending more while telling surveyors they feel worse. The wallets are winning that argument for now, but the gap is worth watching.

Changing Jobs Is Helping Workers Capture Bigger Raises

Krisberg was clear about one overlooked fact that was driving wage growth: “One of the components driving that stronger wage growth is we also saw in our data a pickup in the number of people who are changing jobs. And that matters because typically when people change jobs, they get a boost in their pay and their income.”

The math on a job switch is favoring workers. BLS data shows average hourly earnings rose from $36.36 in June 2025 to $37.64 in June 2026. The BofA number for lower-income workers, 4.1%, is the raise the group as a whole is capturing, with the accelerant being those who changed employers. Historically, job switchers pull a premium of a few percentage points per move. Job switching also tends to compound with every subsequent raise because future increases are typically calculated off the new earnings base.

The personal income data signals durability. Wages and salaries reached $13,246.2 billion in the first quarter of 2026, up from $12,149.5 billion two years earlier. The savings rate slipped to 3.9% from 6.2% over that same window, meaning more of each paycheck is going out the door. That is a yellow flag if wage growth stalls, but not while paychecks are still outpacing core PCE inflation.

Your Industry Determines Whether the Job-Switching Boom Applies to You

Whether you benefit hinges on how liquid your industry’s labor market is. In sectors with high turnover, such as leisure, food service, healthcare support, and warehouse logistics, employers are actively bidding for workers, and a switch can quickly land a meaningful bump.

In sectors with thinner listings, such as niche manufacturing, government, and much of higher education, the same move might take a year and yield a smaller premium.

Was the World Cup Responsible for June’s Rise in Spending?

Broad-based spending strength and lower-income wage convergence show strength for the consumer. Credit and debit card spending grew 6.3% in June, lower-income wage growth accelerated to 4.1%, and higher-income pay increased 4.2%.

July’s spending data will show whether June represented a durable acceleration or a World Cup-assisted spike. For now, broad spending and converging wage growth indicate that workers remain willing to move and that employers are still paying them more to do so.

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