EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EDT, Friday, March 31, 2017
BEA 17—15
* See the navigation bar at the right side of the news release text for links to data tables,
contact personnel and their telephone numbers, and supplementary materials.
| Technical: | James Rankin | (301) 278-9087 | (Personal Income) | piniwd@bea.gov |
| Harvey Davis | (301) 278-9086 | (PCE) | pce@bea.gov | |
| Media: | Jeannine Aversa | (301) 278-9003 | jeannine.aversa@bea.gov |
PERSONAL INCOME AND OUTLAYS, FEBRUARY 2017
Personal income increased $57.7 billion (0.4 percent) in February according to estimates released
today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Disposable personal income (DPI) increased $44.6 billion
(0.3 percent) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $7.4 billion (0.1 percent).
Real DPI increased 0.2 percent in February and Real PCE decreased 0.1 percent. The PCE price index
increased 0.1 percent. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.2 percent.
2016 2017
Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb.
Percent change from preceding month
Personal income:
Current dollars 0.4 0.2 0.3 0.5 0.4
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars 0.4 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.3
Chained (2009) dollars 0.2 0.1 0.1 -0.1 0.2
Personal consumption expenditures (PCE):
Current dollars 0.5 0.3 0.6 0.2 0.1
Chained (2009) dollars 0.3 0.2 0.4 -0.2 -0.1
Price indexes:
PCE 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.4 0.1
PCE, excluding food and energy 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.3 0.2
Price indexes: Percent change from month one year ago
PCE 1.4 1.3 1.6 1.9 2.1
PCE, excluding food and energy 1.8 1.7 1.7 1.8 1.8
The increase in personal income in February primarily reflected increases in wages and salaries and
rental income of persons (table 3).
The decrease in real PCE in February primarily reflected a decrease in spending for services that was
partially offset by an increase in spending for nondurable goods (table 7).
Personal outlays increased $7.5 billion in February (table 3). Personal saving was $808.0 billion in
February and the personal saving rate, personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income,
was 5.6 percent (table 1).
2016 Personal Income and Outlays
Personal income (table 6) increased 3.6 percent in 2016 (that is, from the 2015 annual level to the
2016 annual level), compared with an increase of 4.4 percent in 2015. DPI increased 3.9 percent in 2016,
compared with an increase of 3.8 percent in 2015. In 2016, PCE increased 3.9 percent compared with an
increase of 3.5 percent in 2015.
Real DPI increased 2.8 percent in 2016, compared with an increase of 3.5 percent in 2015. Real PCE (table 8)
increased 2.7 percent compared with an increase of 3.2 percent.
Annual estimates of personal income, DPI, and real PCE were unrevised from the estimates presented last
month; annual estimates of current-dollar PCE were revised up 0.1 percentage point.
Updates
Estimates have been updated for October 2016 through January 2017. Changes in personal income, in
current-dollar and chained (2009) dollar DPI, and in current-dollar and chained (2009) dollar PCE for
December and for January -- revised and as published in last month’s release -- are shown below.
Change from preceding month
December January
Previous Revised Previous Revised Previous Revised Previous Revised
(Billions of dollars) (Percent) (Billions of dollars) (Percent)
Personal income:
Current dollars 47.5 47.2 0.3 0.3 63.0 74.5 0.4 0.5
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars 42.0 42.4 0.3 0.3 40.1 50.2 0.3 0.4
Chained (2009) dollars 16.2 15.2 0.1 0.1 -19.6 -9.0 -0.2 -0.1
Personal consumption expenditures:
Current dollars 65.0 75.1 0.5 0.6 22.2 27.4 0.2 0.2
Chained (2009) dollars 38.7 46.5 0.3 0.4 -30.7 -24.6 -0.3 -0.2
Next release: May 1, 2017 at 8:30 A.M. EDT
Personal Income and Outlays: March 2017
Additional Information
Resources
Additional Resources available at www.bea.gov:
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BEA’s email subscription service, or following BEA on Twitter @BEA_News.
• Historical time series for these estimates can be accessed in BEA’s Interactive Data Application.
• Access BEA data by registering for BEA’s Data Application Programming Interface (API).
• For more on BEA’s statistics, see our monthly online journal, the Survey of Current Business.
• BEA's news release schedule
• NIPA Handbook: Concepts and Methods of the U.S. National Income and Product Accounts
Definitions
Personal income is the income received by, or on behalf of, all persons from all sources: from
participation as laborers in production, from owning a home or business, from the ownership of
financial assets, and from government and business in the form of transfers. It includes income from
domestic sources as well as the rest of world. It does not include realized or unrealized capital gains or
losses.
Disposable personal income is the income available to persons for spending or saving. It is equal to
personal income less personal current taxes.
Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) is the value of the goods and services purchased by, or on the
behalf of, “persons” who reside in the United States.
Personal outlays is the sum of PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments.
Personal saving is personal income less personal outlays and personal current taxes.
The personal saving rate is personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income.
Current-dollar estimates are valued in the prices of the period when the transactions occurred—that is,
at “market value.” Also referred to as “nominal estimates” or as “current-price estimates.”
Real values are inflation-adjusted estimates—that is, estimates that exclude the effects of price changes.
For more definitions, see the Glossary: National Income and Product Accounts.
Statistical conventions
Annual rates. Monthly and quarterly values are expressed at seasonally-adjusted annual rates (SAAR).
Dollar changes are calculated as the difference between these SAAR values. For detail, see the FAQ
“Why does BEA publish estimates at annual rates?”
Month-to-month percent changes are calculated from unrounded data and are not annualized.
Quarter-to-quarter percent changes are calculated from unrounded data and are displayed at annual
rates. For detail, see the FAQ “How is average annual growth calculated?”
Quantities and prices. Quantities, or “real” volume measures, and prices are expressed as index
numbers with a specified reference year equal to 100 (currently 2009). Quantity and price indexes are
calculated using a Fisher-chained weighted formula that incorporates weights from two adjacent
periods (quarters for quarterly data and annuals for annual data). “Real” dollar series are calculated by
multiplying the published quantity index by the current dollar value in the reference year (2009) and
then dividing by 100. Percent changes calculated from real quantity indexes and chained-dollar levels
are conceptually the same; any differences are due to rounding.
Chained-dollar values are not additive because the relative weights for a given period differ from those
of the reference year.
List of Personal Income and Outlays News Release Tables
Table 1. Personal Income and Its Disposition (Months)
Table 2. Personal Income and Its Disposition (Years and Quarters)
Table 3. Personal Income and Its Disposition, Change From Preceding Period (Months)
Table 4. Personal Income and Its Disposition, Change From Preceding Period (Years and Quarters)
Table 5. Personal Income and Its Disposition, Percent Change From Preceding Period (Months)
Table 6. Personal Income and Its Disposition, Percent Change From Preceding Period (Years and
Quarters)
Table 7. Real Personal Consumption Expenditures by Major Type of Product (Months)
Table 8. Real Personal Consumption Expenditures by Major Type of Product (Years and Quarters)
Table 9. Price Indexes for Personal Consumption Expenditures: Level and Percent Change From
Preceding Period (Months)
Table 10. Real Disposable Personal Income and Real Personal Consumption Expenditures: Percent
Change From Month One Year Ago
Table 11. Price Indexes for Personal Consumption Expenditures: Percent Change From Month One
Year Ago
