WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — There are more jobs now, for more money, than any time since the recession ended in mid-2009. Gas prices are at a six-year low, while the stock market is near near an all-time high.

The question is whether Americans will spend that newfound wealth.

So far, the answer has been no.

The pace of consumer spending continues to disappoint even though unemployment has tumbled below 6% and U.S. added 3.1 million jobs in 2014 — the biggest gain since 1999. Although consumers are better off than they’ve been in years, they sure haven’t acted like it. Americans are still saving more and shopping frugally.

Just look at what’s happened in the past few months. The savings rate rose in December to 4.9% to mark the highest level since midsummer, government data showed. At the same time, both retail sales and consumer spending fell sharply.

There’s a big asterisk to that last factoid: in both cases the negative readings reflected lower prices, namely at the gas pump. Even so, inflation-adjusted consumer spending fell slightly in December.

Which again raises the question heading into Thursday’s report on retail sales. When will consumers start to spend that extra cash — and pump up the U.S. economy?

Retailers seem to expect it will happen soon, as they’ve added 113,000 new positions over the last three months.

Traders are expecting the headline figure again to decline in January, reflecting the lower revenue coming in for gas stations. Auto sales also will be lower, according to what the auto companies themselves have reported.

So it’s the so-called core reading, excluding gas and autos, that will be of most importance.

Economists at RBC Capital Markets expect a 0.5% advance in the core rate due to “the windfall from lower gasoline prices and consumer fundamentals that remain very constructive,” according to a research note.

Those fundamentals include the economy adding a healthy 252,000 jobs in the first month of 2015. Wages may also be ready to perk up after a 0.5% gain in January that reflected the biggest rise since 2008.

Now it’s all a matter of if, and when, consumers feel up to it.