State economist confirms slow Christmas sales

The state economist says the holiday shopping season won’t set any records in Iowa. State economist Harvey Siegelman suspects retailers will have a disappointing Christmas season that is worse or the same as last year. He says they should have a “break-even” year overall. He says that’s not too bad considering the unemployment rate in Iowa and other economic factors that show good news.Siegelman says there’s no evidence our recent bad weather played a huge role in depressing holiday shopping.Siegelman is employed by the state as an economist, and he sits on the State Economic Forecasting Council.