Mitchell Brown
Mrs. Straub
Economics - B3
December 18th 2014
Christmas Having a Significant Impact?
For those who have been out Christmas shopping lately, have you thought anything of its economic impact? In years past, Holiday shopping boosted the American economy significantly. However, with our current economic recession, citizens are spending less towards gifts and focusing more on survival; therefore, Holiday shopping has less of an impact than what one would initially believe.
Not to say Christmas and Holiday shopping do not have a positive impact on our economy--they do, but as of late, their impact has certainly declined. As an article from the New York Times discussing Holiday shopping’s impact on the economy states: “From 1992 to 2013, December retail sales averaged 23 percent higher than the rate from January through October”. Although this year, it’s only “a mere $67 billion. That’s all of about 0.4 percent of our $17.6 trillion economy.” Yes, one could argue that 0.4 percent of a $17.6 trillion economy is a lot, but in hindsight this isn’t a fraction of what the figures use to be. Therefore, because citizens are spending less because of our economic recession, economic impact from holiday shopping has decreased due to economic contraction.
Even though the impact Holiday shopping has on our economy has declined because of our economic status, Christmas shopping still has an important impact. Regarding a webpage overviewing statistics regarding holiday shopping and its effects on the economy, “holiday sales reflected about 19.2 percent of the retail industry's total sales”. “ As a result, just over 768 thousand employees were hired throughout the United States to compensate for the holiday rush.” When a business is experiencing peak profit--for many this is christmas, they often hire more temporary or permanent workers. This results in not only circulation of money throughout the economy, but hope for those who struggle to maintain jobs and support their families. Overall, yes, as seen in the preceding paragraph Christmas’s effect on the economy is decreasing; however, it still has an important effect. Without holiday shopping, many who rely on large businesses would struggle to survive or raise a family. For some would be unaffected, others would be suffering at the wrath of the economy.
To conclude, Christmas and Holiday shopping has a definite significant impact on the economy. Even though its impact has began to decline because of our economic recession, the benefits Holiday shopping bring to the table help out the lives and families of thousands. In the future, if holiday spending begins to increase at an even rate, that might be enough to bring us out of economic recession. But for now, Holiday shopping’s economic impact is great enough not to be argued with.
Works Cited
Irwin, Neil. "Don’t Believe the Hype: Holiday Sales Won’t Make or Break the Economy." The New York Times. The New York Times, 26 Nov. 2014. Web. 19 Dec. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/27/upshot/dont-believe-the-hype-holiday-sales-wont-make-or-break-the-economy.html?_r=0&abt=0002&abg=1>.
"Topic: U.S. Christmas Season."Www.statista.com. Web. 19 Dec. 2014. <http://www.statista.com/topics/991/us-christmas-season/>.
There is no doubt that Christmas brings along the money factor. Back in 8th grade, I did the stock market game with Mr M. in Econ class and I ended up getting 4th place because I invested in Caterpiller and UPS. Durring the christmas time, It increased dramatically.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the fact that consumer confidence is lower so this would cause a decrease in shopping near Christmas but that may not stop people from going Black Friday shopping. People might try to still get a similar amount of things for lower prices by getting these deals and this is shown by the fact that the number of shoppers has increased in the last few years. Also although holiday shopping may put more money into the economy around the Christmas season, there may be a slight trough afterwards because people spend money that they dont have and they go into debt.
ReplyDeleteChristmas and Holiday shopping has a really good impact in our economy even though it has been declining, as you said. It's the time of the year where consumers are willing to spend more of their income in gifts. It's incredible the amount of employees hired for the holiday rush, and it's really positive since it contributes to the employment rate.
ReplyDeleteChristmas I believe has a good impact on the economy. Families get out to spend money on things that they think are important. Many people go out spend their money because they know they want to have a good Christmas and so do their kids. I think Christmas brings a lot of money in and i think it impacts the economy in a big way.
ReplyDeleteChristmas shopping definitely has a positive impact on the economy. Even though people are spending less on Christmas shopping because of the recession, the economy is still impacted greatly. I agree that lately the spending on Christmas has declined, and that it still has a good impact on our economy. If I were you, I would've added a chart or some sort of representation to help prove your evidence better. All in all, great topic and good job.
ReplyDeleteChristmas has had a very large impact on the economy even though the spending during Christmas time has gone down. I remember in Investing class in 7th grade, putting money towards railroads and car companies, because of people getting cars when they are cheaper, and the railroads delivering the cars.
ReplyDeleteThe Christmas shopping market is huge. HUGE. It's incomparable to any other holiday, mainly because of how commercially exploitable it is, which means more profit for more companies. I'm honestly surprised that, with the recovery of the American economy following the 2008 recession, Christmas hasn't been advertised in larger chunks of the year with commercials, ads, obnoxious radio jingles, etc. Pretty soon, though, it could become more of a commercial holiday as opposed to its religious roots.
ReplyDeleteI agree that our economy is helped by the rush of Christmas time, not only in the goods and services that suppliers put out for customers, but also the advertisements needed to show that theses goods and services exist. Besides a person's economic status or situation isn't an variable when formulating the equation of purchasing Christmas gifts.
ReplyDeleteI was unaware that the holidays meant jobs for temporary workers, which could mean more important income for struggling workers. Therefore, a good Christmas economy could be the difference between living comfortably and struggling. In addition, while Christmas spending is down, I believe it will increase once more when the economy improves.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think about it before, but if money were to circulate faster at times like Christmas that just means everyone has more, because people are getting it and buying things quickly in order to let someone else do the same. the temporary jobs and workers are great for now, but what do they expect to do after Christmas when they don't have anywhere to go and there's too many workers for the amount of available jobs starting the 26th of december?
ReplyDeleteThis was a great topic to write your article on since Christmas just happened. It really makes us realize how crucial holiday spending is for the economy. Not only does it raise the overall GDP because so many people are buying new goods, but it also is one of the happiest times of the year. Having a happy nation of people is also very important to the success of an economy even though it cannot be measured in a numerical value.
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