RETAILERS in the United States may post the smallest holiday sales gain in six years as consumers facing rising unemployment and food prices pare spending on non-necessities.

Sales will probably gain 2.2 percent to US$470.4 billion in the last two months of the year, the National Retail Federation said yesterday. That would be the slowest growth since 2002's 1.3 percent increase, the Washington-based group said.

Consumers are grappling with food and fuel costs, the highest unemployment rate in five years, last week's Wall Street meltdown and the worst housing slump since the Great Depression, Bloomberg News said. They will be "frugal" and "less willing to splurge" this holiday, the NRF said. The economy may not improve until the second half of 2009, according to the trade group.