US Personal Income and Outlays for March

On Wednesday, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that personal income (PI) increased $116.8 billion, or 0.5% at a monthly rate in March; disposable personal income (DPI), personal income less personal current taxes, increased $102.0 billion, or 0.5%; and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $134.5 billion, or 0.7%.

The increase in current-dollar personal income in March primarily reflected increases in compensation and proprietors’ income. The $134.5 billion increase in current-dollar PCE reflected increases of $54.5 billion in spending for goods and $79.9 billion in spending for services.

Month-over-month, the PCE price index for March decreased less than 0.1%. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased less than 0.1%.

Year-over-year, the PCE price index increased 2.3%. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 2.6%.

Personal outlays—the sum of PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments—increased $136.6 billion in March. Personal saving was $872.3 billion and the personal saving rate—personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income—was 3.9%.