Getting your player ready...
WASHINGTON — A flurry of new data Friday showed the economy is improving — with temporary help from the government.
Consumer spending rose in August and incomes increased by the largest amount in eight months, the Commerce Department said. Still, the income gain was propelled mostly by the government’s short-term extension of unemployment aid, not wage gains.
A big jump in government building projects lifted construction spending in August, Commerce said in a separate report. That offset the weakest level in private construction spending in 12 years.
Separately, a private trade group said manufacturing activity expanded in September for the 14th straight month.
