WASHINGTON - Surging gasoline prices are starting to crimp US consumer spending habits, especially among low-income households, a survey showed Tuesday.
The survey by the International Council of Shopping Centers found 40 percent of consumers reduced their driving in response to record-high gasoline costs.
The shopping format that continues most affected by the reduced frequency of store visits was the downtown shopping areas (63 percent), while neighborhood shopping centers were least affected (50 percent), the survey found.
Despite some overall reduction in the frequency of shopping, 59 percent of households reported that they did not reduce their spending over the last month on such items as clothing, shoes, jewelry, consumer electronics, beauty services or on non-essential items.
However, 63 percent in the survey reported that the rapid increase in the price of gasoline has caused them to cut back on the frequency of going out to eat.
Of the consumers that did cut back on spending, it was evenly split between those that cut back considerably (20 percent) and those that cut back modestly (21 percent).
More than half of the consumers with household income of less than 25,000 a year reported they were driving less; 57 percent of those low-income households had cut back on their discretionary purchases, the ICSC found.
On the other hand, just 32 percent of households with incomes of 75,000 dollars or above had reduced their driving, and 31 percent in this group reported any scaling back on their discretionary spending.
Average fuel prices had risen to a record 2.22 dollars a gallon, according the US Department of Energy's most recent survey. This has added between six and 8.10 dollars per week to the average consumer's weekly expenditure relative to April 2004, ICSC said.
04/05/2005 14:47 GMT