WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are rapidly shifting from spendthrifts to savers, slowing the

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are rapidly shifting from spendthrifts to savers, slowing the broader economy, as they remain wary in the face of rising layoffs.

New economic reports Thursday suggest this dynamic won’t change anytime soon. Retail sales and orders for manufactured goods fell. And the number of people claiming jobless benefits remained near record highs. The government is expected to report today that the unemployment rate rose again in February, with employers cutting nearly 650,000 jobs.

Bill Hampel, chief economist for the Credit Union National Association, said his group’s members are reporting record increases in deposits. Government figures show the savings rate jumped to 5 percent in January from zero last spring. That’s the highest rate since 1995 and a much faster shift than he had expected, Hampel said.

Consumer spending makes up about 70 percent of the economy. It topped out at 71 percent in 2005, Hampel said, but will likely drop by 2 to 3 percentage points over the next few years.

Increased savings can actually lower economic growth. Economists call it the “paradox of thrift”: What’s good for each of us individually — being thrifty, limiting our spending — can worsen a recession when everyone does it all at once.

“I wish I could say the rise in the savings rate is over,” said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group Inc., who thinks it will keep increasing until late this year.

Hoffman said about half the 6.2 percent drop in economic output last quarter, the worst showing in a quarter-century, was attributable to lower consumer spending.

Several economists said government spending, particularly President Barack Obama’s $787 billion stimulus plan, is likely to be the only source of growth in the coming months. Other drivers of the economy, such as business investment, are likely to decline further.

“Everything except government spending is falling,” Hampel said.

The Congressional Budget Office said earlier this week that gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the economy, will be 1.4 to 3.8 percent higher by the final quarter of this year than it would be without the stimulus.

Retailers from Target Corp. to American Eagle Outfitters Inc. to Macy’s Inc. reported Thursday that their sales fell last month, though in many cases not as sharply as expected. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was one bright spot as the discount giant’s same-stores sales, which measures sales at stores open at least one year, rose 5.1 percent.

As demand for all types of goods dries up, companies are laying off workers at a furious pace. The Labor Department said the number of new claims for jobless benefits dropped last week to 639,000 from 670,000 the previous week.

The 639,000 new claims were fewer than analysts had projected. But the four-week average of new claims, which smooths out fluctuations, rose to 641,750 — the highest since October 1982, when the economy was emerging from a steep recession. The labor force, though, has grown by about half since then.