Americans keep spending, driving the economy at a time when unemployment is at a half-century low point despite headwinds from the trade war.

Holiday sales rose 3.4 percent this year over 2018, according to a survey by Mastercard SpendingPulse. Online sales grew much more sharply — 18.8 percent — marking the continuing change in how people shop.

The increase this year, both over all and online, is smaller than it was in 2018, but the findings will be welcomed by retailers, which depend on year-end splurges to drive their annual sales.

Consumers are responsible for the largest chunk, by far, of economic activity in the United States, and their willingness to keep shopping has offset declining business investment in the face of the trade war and an uncertain outlook. The economy grew at a 2.1 percent annual rate in the third quarter of 2019 and has been expanding for 11 years — one of the longest periods of continuous growth ever.



Employers added 266,000 jobs in November, and unemployment remained at 3.5 percent, the 21st consecutive month with an unemployment rate of 4 percent or lower.