NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Personal income and spending rose in August, the government said Monday, mostly meeting Wall Street expectations.
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 Wage growth has been sluggish, but that hasn't stopped consumers from shopping. CNNfn's Kathleen Hays takes a closer look at consumer spending.
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The Commerce Department said personal income rose 0.2 percent after a revised 0.3 percent gain in July. Economists, on average, expected it to rise 0.3 percent, according to Briefing.com.
Spending by consumers, which accounts for about 70 percent of the nation's economic activity, rose 0.8 percent after rising a revised 0.9 percent in July. Economists, on average, expected spending to rise 0.8 percent, according to Briefing.com.
The report had little impact on U.S. stock market futures, which continued to rise, pointing to a positive opening on Wall Street. Treasury bond prices fell.
A late-summer surge in consumer spending was fueled by the proceeds of a wave of mortgage refinancing, which allowed homeowners to cut their monthly payments and trade in some of their increased home equity for cash. Child tax credit checks, mailed to many families in July, also helped.
According to the Commerce Department, tax cuts helped disposable income rise $73.6 billion, or 0.9 percent, compared with an increase of $125.4 billion, or 1.5 percent, in July. Tax payments, on the other hand, fell $51.9 billion in August, after falling $101.1 billion in July.
But private wages grew just 0.1 percent, or $5.4 billion, in August, compared with another paltry $3.3 billion gain in July.
Many economists believe that, in order for the late-summer surge in spending to be sustained, wage and salary growth will have to be stronger. In order for that to happen, the labor market, which has been in a prolonged slump, will have to improve.
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