June 26 (UPI) -- U.S. consumer spending saw an 8.2 percent uptick in May, partly erasing plunges in the previous two months due to the economic crisis brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
A Commerce Department report released Friday showed spending was up $994.5 billion. And while that's good news for the U.S. economy, it comes as personal income decreased $874.2 billion (4.2 percent) and disposable personal income decreased $911.1 billion (4.9 percent).
Still, it made ground on some of the consumer spending lost in March (a drop of 6.6 percent) and April (a drop of 12.6 percent).
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Friday's report indicates the U.S. economy is on track to rebound from the economic shutdown.
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"It's natural there will be some little interruptions as we come back out of the pandemic, but the key thing in my view is consumer spending will continue to lead the recovery," he said in an appearance on Fox Business Network.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused struggles for some retailers, including Microsoft, which announced plans to close all its brick-and-mortar locations. The tech company said it plans to continue retail operations online from its corporate facilities.
The company shuttered its retail locations in March in response to the pandemic.
"Our sales have grown online as our product portfolio has evolved to largely digital offerings, and our talented team has proven success serving customers beyond any physical location," said Microsoft Corporate Vice President David Porter. "We are grateful to our Microsoft Store customers and we look forward to continuing to serve them online and with our retail sales team at Microsoft corporate locations."
A Microsoft spokesman told CNBC it will give current retail employees opportunities to remain employed by the company.
