The American economy is picking up speed after a slow start to the year, with resilient consumer spending and a buoyant housing market just about making up for a falloff in investment by cautious companies.
But the overall gains are still likely to fall short of what many experts — not to mention ordinary workers — would hope to see as the recovery nears the end of its seventh year.
These crosscurrents highlight the challenge facing policy makers at the Federal Reserve as they weigh whether to raise interest rates when they meet in mid-June, or wait until July or later in the year.
