Personal income increased $38.1 billion, or 0.3 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI)
increased $36.0 billion, or 0.3 percent, inFebruary, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $69.1 billion, or 0.7 percent. In January,
personal income increased $147.4 billion, or 1.2 percent, DPI increased $92.0 billion, or 0.8 percent,
and PCE increased $29.5 billion, or 0.3 percent, based on revised estimates.
Real disposable income decreased 0.1 percent in February, in contrast to an increase of 0.5
percent in January. Real PCE increased 0.3 percent, in contrast to a decrease of less than 0.1 percent.
2010 2011
Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb.
(Percent change from preceding month)
Personal income, current dollars 0.5 0.3 0.5 1.2 0.3
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars 0.5 0.3 0.5 0.8 0.3
Chained (2005) dollars 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.5 -0.1
Personal consumption expenditures:
Current dollars 0.7 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.7
Chained (2005) dollars 0.5 0.3 0.1 0.0 0.3
The January change in disposable personal income (DPI) was affected by two large special
factors. Reduced employee contributions for government social insurance, which reflected
provisions of the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act
of 2010, boosted DPI in January by reducing the employee social security contribution rates
(employee contributions for government social insurance are a subtraction in the calculation
of personal income). This effect was partly offset by the expiration of the Making Work Pay
provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which boosted personal current
taxes and reduced DPI (personal current taxes are a subtraction in the calculation of DPI).
Excluding these two special factors, which are discussed more fully below, DPI increased
$36.0 billion, or 0.3 percent, in February, following an increase of $25.2 billion, or 0.2 percent, in January.
Wages and salaries
Private wage and salary disbursements increased $16.4 billion in February, compared with an increase
of $16.7 billion in January. Goods-producing industries' payrolls decreased $1.0 billion, in
contrast to an increase of $12.0 billion; manufacturing payrolls decreased $1.6 billion, in contrast
to an increase of $8.3 billion. Services-producing industries' payrolls increased $17.4 billion,
compared with an increase of $4.7 billion. Government wage and salary disbursements increased
$0.3 billion, compared with an increase of $2.5 billion.
Other personal income
Employer contributions for employee pension and insurance funds increased $2.7 billion in February,
compared with an increase of $3.5 billion in January.
Employer contributions for government social insurance increased $1.0 billion in February, compared
with an increase of $8.9 billion in January. The January change reflected an increase in the tax
rates paid by employers to state unemployment insurance funds, which had boosted January contributions
by $7.5 billion. (Changes in employer contributions for government social insurance do not affect
personal income, because employer contributions for government social insurance are also included
in total contributions for government social insurance, which is a subtraction in the calculation of personal income.)
Proprietors' income increased $2.9 billion in February, compared with an increase of $4.2 billion
in January. Farm proprietors' income increased $0.5 billion, the same increase as in January.
Nonfarm proprietors' income increased $2.5 billion in February, compared with an increase of $3.7 billion in January.
Rental income of persons increased $8.3 billion in February, compared with an increase of $8.2 billion
in January. Personal income receipts on assets (personal interest income plus personal dividend
income) increased $7.7 billion, compared with an increase of $8.8 billion. Personal current transfer
receipts increased $1.1 billion, in contrast to a decrease of $0.1 billion.
Contributions for government social insurance -- a subtraction in calculating personal income -- increased
$2.2 billion in February, in contrast to a decrease of $94.6 billion in January. The January change
reflected decreases in personal contributions for government social insurance and increases in employer
contributions. The January change in personal contributions for government social insurance reflected
the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010, which temporarily
decreased the social security contribution rate for employees and self-employed workers by 2.0 percentage
points for 2011, or $105.4 billion in January. As noted above, employer contributions were boosted $7.5 billion
in January by increases in the unemployment insurance rate.
Personal current taxes and disposable personal income
Personal current taxes increased $2.2 billion in February, compared with an increase of $55.4 billion
in January. The January change reflected the expiration of the Making Work Pay Credit provision of
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which had boosted federal withheld income taxes
by $38.6 billion in January. The January change also reflected increased federal net nonwitheld
income taxes (payments of estimated taxes plus final settlements less refunds), which had boosted January
net withheld taxes by $11.3 billion. Disposable personal income (DPI) -- personal income less personal
current taxes -- increased $36.0 billion, or 0.3 percent, in February, compared with an increase
of $92.0 billion, or 0.8 percent in January.
Personal outlays and personal saving
Personal outlays -- PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments -- increased
$69.8 billion inFebruary, compared with an increase of $30.2 billion in January. PCE increased
$69.1 billion, compared with an increase of $29.5 billion.
Personal saving -- DPI less personal outlays -- was $676.7 billion in February, compared with $710.5 billion
in January. Personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income was 5.8 percent in February,
compared with 6.1 percent in January. For a comparison of personal saving in BEAs national income and
product accounts with personal saving in the Federal Reserve Boards flow of funds accounts and data
on changes in net worth, go to /national/nipaweb/Nipa-Frb.asp
Real DPI, real PCE and price index
Real DPI -- DPI adjusted to remove price changes -- decreased 0.1 percent in February, in contrast to
an increase of 0.5 percent in January.
Real PCE -- PCE adjusted to remove price changes -- increased 0.3 percent in February, in contrast to
a decrease of less than 0.1 percent in January. Purchases of durable goods increased 1.4 percent, compared
with an increase of 0.2 percent. Purchases of motor vehicles and parts accounted for most of the
increase in durable goods in February. Purchases of nondurable goods increased 0.4 percent in February, in
contrast to a decrease of 0.1 percent in January. Purchases of services increased less than 0.1 percent,
in contrast to a decrease of 0.1 percent.
PCE price index -- The price index for PCE increased 0.4 percent in February, compared with an increase
of 0.3 percent in January. The PCE price index, excluding food and energy, increased 0.2 percent, the same
increase as in January.
Revisions
Estimates have been revised for October 2010 through January 2011. Changes in personal income, current-dollar
and chained (2005) dollar DPI, and current-dollar and chained (2005) dollar PCE for December and
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 56.6 60.0 0.4 0.5 133.2 147.4 1.0 1.2
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars 48.5 52.6 0.4 0.5 78.3 92.0 0.7 0.8
Chained (2005) dollars 15.3 21.0 0.1 0.2 40.0 48.7 0.4 0.5
Personal consumption expenditures:
Current dollars 56.5 40.7 0.5 0.4 23.7 29.5 0.2 0.3
Chained (2005) dollars 25.0 12.7 0.3 0.1 -6.3 -4.2 -0.1 0.0
BEAs national, international, regional, and industry estimates; the Survey of Current Business; and BEA news releases
are available without charge on BEAs Web site at www.bea.gov. By visiting the site, you can also subscribe to receive
free e-mail summaries of BEA releases and announcements.
* * *
Next release April 29, 2011 at 8:30 A.M. EDT for Personal Income and Outlays for March.
________________________
NOTE. -- Monthly estimates are expressed at seasonally adjusted annual rates, unless otherwise specified.
Month-to-month dollar changes are differences between these published estimates. Month-to-month percent
changes are calculated from unrounded data and are not annualized. Real estimates are in chained (2005) dollars.
This news release is available on BEAs Web site at www.bea.gov/newsreleases/rels.htm.
