The bright spot in a dark economy

Saving is on the rise. That's a long-term good, though it won't help battered job and housing markets.

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- The economic storm pelting the U.S. economy is going to do plenty more damage to already flattened job and housing markets.

But as dark as the next three or four quarters could be, the U.S. economy appears to be undergoing a more lasting, and ultimately uplifting, shift.

Americans who for decades have spent an increasing share of their incomes and taken on more and more debt are now, for the first time in years, saving instead.

The personal savings rate, which measures the amount of disposable personal income that isn't spent, ticked up to almost 3% in the second quarter of 2008, after almost four years below 1%.

While Americans still aren't going to win any awards for thrift - consumers save more than 10% of their paychecks in creditor nations such as Germany and Japan, for instance - the return to saving carries big implications for U.S. economic health.

More saving is good over the long haul, because domestic savings create a pool of money from which companies can borrow to invest in new plants and equipment, creating the jobs that push living standards higher over time.