It now appears that consumers have maintained their sluggish pace of spending only by saving less.
Only 11.9% of Americans moved house between 2007 and 2008-the most sluggish pace since records began in the 1940s.
That is largely because the sluggish pace of job creation hasn't been strong enough to absorb growth of the labor force.
"With this sluggish pace of recovery, remittance flows are unlikely to reach the 2008 level even by 2011," the brief says.
