Personal Income And Spending Increase

Personal income increased $3.3 billion (less than 0.1 percent) in October according to estimates released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Disposable personal income (DPI) decreased $12.6 billion (-0.1 percent) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $39.7 billion (0.3 percent).

Real DPI decreased 0.3 percent in October and Real PCE increased 0.1 percent. The PCE price index increased 0.2 percent. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.1 percent.

The increase in personal income in October primarily reflected an increase in wages and salaries that was partially offset by decreases in personal interest income and in farm proprietors’ income. BEA adjusted October wages and salaries upward by $7.2 billion (at an annual rate) to account for strike pay and payments associated with contract ratification for members of the United Automobile Workers.

The $11.3 billion increase in real PCE in October reflected a $16.4 billion increase in spending for services that was partially offset by a $7.4 billion decrease in spending for goods (table 7). Within services, the largest contributor to the increase was spending for household electricity and gas. Within goods, new motor vehicles was the leading contributor to the decrease.

Personal outlays increased $43.1 billion in October (table 3). Personal saving was $1.29 trillion in October and the personal saving rate, personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income, was 7.8 percent.