Abundance of U.S. jobs fails to ignite consumer economy

A strengthening U.S. job market isn’t translating into much bigger paychecks, with 2% wage gains barely more than half the rate typically seen in a recovery. As a consequence, consumer spending remains tepid. And the reason may lie in other indicators, with lagging industrial activity and business investment as well as a scarcity of full-time jobs pointing to the likelihood of continued slow recovery.