Personal Income, Disposable Income, and Personal Consumption Expenditures All Increase in March

On Friday, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that according to its estimates, personal income (PI) increased $122.0 billion, or 0.5%, month-over-month in March. Disposable personal income (DPI), personal income less personal current taxes, increased $104.0 billion, or 0.5%. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $160.9 billion, or 0.8%.

The PCE price index increased 0.3% in March. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.3%. Real DPI increased 0.2%, and real PCE decreased 0.5%; goods increased 1.1% while services increased 0.2%.

Year-over-year, the PCE price index for March increased 2.7%. Prices for services increased 4.0%, while prices for goods increased 0.1%. Food prices increased 1.5% and energy prices increased 2.6%. Excluding food and energy the PCE price index increased 2.8% from one year ago.

Personal outlays—the sum of PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments—increased $172.1 billion in March. Personal saving was $671.0 billion, and the personal saving rate—personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income—was 3.2%.