---
title: What are the economic drivers of freight?
description: Goods spending was up nearly 10%. Personal income was up as a result of stimulus payments, and retail sales and new & existing home sales were up as well.
image: https://ask.ftrintel.com/hubfs/Ask%20the%20Experts/AskTheExperts_economy.png
---

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# What are the economic drivers of freight?

Posted by [The FTR Experts](https://ask.ftrintel.com/author/experts) on Jun 3, 2021 1:15:05 PM

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**Todd Tranausky was asked: "Consumption is up. What are the contributing factors and how does it relate to intermodal?"   
**

This Q&A response from the FTR experts came from our April Rail Outlook (Carload + Intermodal) webinar. View the video and the key takeaways below. 

 

 

**Key Takeaways:**

- Looking at this February compared to February 2020 (the final month unaffected by the pandemic), goods spending was up nearly 10%. Personal income was up as a result of stimulus payments, and retail sales and new & existing home sales were positively affected as well.
- Personal spending was just about flat, and payroll jobs and spending on services were both down significantly compared to last year.

---

 

 Tags: [railcar](https://ask.ftrintel.com/tag/railcar), [Freight](https://ask.ftrintel.com/tag/freight), [intermodal](https://ask.ftrintel.com/tag/intermodal), [Rail](https://ask.ftrintel.com/tag/rail)

 

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