“The World Health Organization says the pandemic is over, and the U.S. government has ended its declaration of a public health emergency. But that doesn’t mean the economic challenges brought on by COVID-19 are over.”

Comments from National Retail Federation chief economist Jack Kleinhenz, who indicated that the U.S. economy “remained in gear” during the first quarter even as GDP growth slowed to a modest 1.1 percent annual rate from the average 3 percent in the previous two quarters. Read his comments in the May issue of NRF’s Monthly Economic Review.