News Release
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Personal Income and Outlays, March 2013
Personal income increased $30.9 billion, or 0.2 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI) increased $20.7 billion, or 0.2 percent, in March, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $21.0 billion, or 0.2 percent. In February, personal income increased $151.2 billion, or 1.1 percent, DPI increased $134.0 billion, or 1.1 percent, and PCE increased $81.6 billion, or 0.7 percent, based on revised estimates. Real disposable income increased 0.3 percent in March, compared with an increase of 0.7 percent in February. Real PCE increased 0.3 percent in March, the same as in February. 2012 2013 Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. (Percent change from preceding month) Personal income, current dollars 1.1 2.6 -3.6 1.1 0.2 Disposable personal income: Current dollars 1.0 2.7 -4.0 1.1 0.2 Chained (2005) dollars 1.2 2.7 -4.0 0.7 0.3 Personal consumption expenditures: Current dollars 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.7 0.2 Chained (2005) dollars 0.5 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.3 FOOTNOTE.________ 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. _________________ Wages and salaries Private wage and salary disbursements increased $14.9 billion in March, compared with an increase of $44.6 billion in February. The March, February, and January levels of private wages and salaries were reduced by $15.0 billion (at an annual rate), reflecting the impact of accelerated bonuses in November and in December of 2012 in anticipation of changes to individual income tax rates. Goods-producing industries' payrolls decreased $0.1 billion in March, in contrast to an increase of $15.1 billion in February; manufacturing payrolls decreased $0.3 billion, in contrast to an increase of $9.8 billion. Services-producing industries' payrolls increased $15.0 billion, compared with an increase of $29.5 billion. Government wage and salary disbursements increased $0.4 billion, compared with an increase of $1.7 billion. Other personal income Supplements to wages and salaries increased $3.2 billion in March, compared with an increase of $5.7 billion in February. Proprietors' income increased $8.8 billion in March, compared with an increase of $17.1 billion in February. Farm proprietors' income increased $6.3 billion in March, the same increase as in February. Nonfarm proprietors' income increased $2.5 billion in March, compared with an increase of $10.8 billion in February. Rental income of persons increased $9.5 billion in March, compared with an increase of $9.1 billion in February. Personal income receipts on assets (personal interest income plus personal dividend income) decreased $7.3 billion, in contrast to an increase of $68.2 billion. The February change in personal dividend income reflected a rebound from January. The level of personal dividend income was reduced by $81.0 billion in January, resulting from accelerated and special dividend distributions paid in November and in December. Personal current transfer receipts increased $3.7 billion, compared with an increase of $11.3 billion. Contributions for government social insurance -- a subtraction in calculating personal income -- increased $2.4 billion in March, compared with an increase of $6.4 billion in February. Personal current taxes and disposable personal income Personal current taxes increased $10.2 billion in March, compared with an increase of $17.1 billion in February. Disposable personal income (DPI) -- personal income less personal current taxes -- increased $20.7 billion, or 0.2 percent, in March, compared with an increase of $134.0 billion, or 1.1 percent in February. The February and January changes in disposable personal income (DPI) mainly reflected the effect of special factors in January, such as the expiration of the payroll tax holiday and the acceleration of bonuses and personal dividends to November and to December in anticipation of changes in individual tax rates. Personal outlays and personal saving Personal outlays -- PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments -- increased $22.6 billion in March, compared with an increase of $83.1 billion in February. PCE increased $21.0 billion, compared with an increase of $81.6 billion. Personal saving -- DPI less personal outlays -- was $329.1 billion in March, compared with $330.9 billion in February. The personal saving rate -- personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income -- was 2.7 percent in March, the same as in February. For a comparison of personal saving in BEA's national income and product accounts with personal saving in the Federal Reserve Board's 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 -- increased 0.3 percent in March, compared with an increase of 0.7 percent in February. Real PCE -- PCE adjusted to remove price changes -- increased 0.3 percent in March, the same increase as in February. Purchases of durable goods decreased less than 0.1 percent in March, in contrast to an increase of 0.3 percent in March. Purchases of nondurable goods decreased 0.4 percent, in contrast to an increase of 0.2 percent. Purchases of services increased 0.6 percent, compared with an increase of 0.4 percent. PCE price index -- The price index for PCE decreased 0.1 percent in March, in contrast to an increase of 0.4 percent in February. The PCE price index, excluding food and energy, increased less than 0.1 percent, compared with an increase of 0.1 percent. Revisions Estimates have been revised for January and February. Changes in personal income, current-dollar and chained (2005) dollar DPI, and current-dollar and chained (2005) dollar PCE for January and February -- revised and as published in last month's release -- are shown below. Change from preceding month January February Previous Revised Previous Revised Previous Revised Previous Revised (Billions of dollars) (Percent) (Billions of dollars) (Percent) Personal Income: Current dollars -513.5 -507.2 -3.7 -3.6 143.2 151.2 1.1 1.1 Disposable personal income: Current dollars -498.3 -493.7 -4.0 -4.0 127.8 134.0 1.1 1.1 Chained (2005) dollars -431.8 -429.5 -4.0 -4.0 69.6 74.5 0.7 0.7 Personal consumption expenditures: Current dollars 40.8 28.6 0.4 0.3 77.2 81.6 0.7 0.7 Chained (2005) dollars 31.6 19.7 0.3 0.2 28.4 31.6 0.3 0.3 BOX._____________ Comprehensive Revision of the National Income and Product Accounts As part of the 14th comprehensive (or benchmark) revision of the national income and product accounts (NIPAs), revised estimates of personal income and outlays will be released in conjunction with preliminary estimates for June 2013 on August 2, 2013. More information on the revision is available on BEAs Web site at www.bea.gov/gdp-revisions, including a link to an article in the March 2013 issue of the Survey of Current Business that discusses the upcoming changes in definitions and presentations, including capitalizing spending on research and development and on entertainment originals and measuring transactions of defined benefit pension plans on an accrual accounting basis. An article in the May Survey will describe changes in statistical methods, and an article in the September Survey will describe the results of the revision in detail. Revised NIPA table stubs and press release stubs will be available in June. __________________ BEA's national, international, regional, and industry estimates; the Survey of Current Business; and BEA news releases are available without charge on BEA's 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 - May 31, 2013 at 8:30 A.M. EDT for Personal Income and Outlays for April