US Personal Income and Outlays for September

On Thursday, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that personal income (PI) increased $54.5 billion, or 0.2%, at a monthly rate in September. Disposable personal income (DPI)—personal income less personal current taxes—rose $52.7 billion, or 0.2%. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $113.1 billion, or 0.5%.

Month-over-month, the PCE price index rose 0.5%. Excluding food and energy, the index increased 0.3%.

Year-over-year, the PCE price index increased 3.6% in September. Excluding food and energy, the measure was up 3.1% from a year earlier.

Personal outlays—the sum of PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments—increased $113.0 billion in September. Personal saving was $911.1 billion, and the personal saving rate—personal saving as a percentage of DPI—was 3.8%.

The increase in current-dollar personal income primarily reflected higher compensation and government social benefits, BEA said.

The $113.1 billion increase in current-dollar PCE reflected increases of $35.1 billion in spending on goods and $78.1 billion in spending on services. Real PCE increased $2.6 billion, or less than 0.1%, at a monthly rate.