News Release
These data have been superseded. Please see our latest releases for current estimates and contact information.
Personal Income and Outlays, May 2015
Personal income increased $79.0 billion, or 0.5 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI) increased
$65.5 billion, or 0.5 percent, in May, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal consumption
expenditures (PCE) increased $105.9 billion, or 0.9 percent. In April, personal income increased $69.6 billion,
or 0.5 percent, DPI increased $57.0 billion, or 0.4 percent, and PCE increased $8.5 billion, or 0.1 percent,
based on revised estimates.
Real DPI increased 0.2 percent in May, compared with an increase of 0.4 percent in April. Real PCE increased
0.6 percent, compared with an increase of less than 0.1 percent.
2015
Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May
(Percent change from preceding month)
Personal income, current dollars 0.3 0.4 0.0 0.5 0.5
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars 0.2 0.4 0.0 0.4 0.5
Chained (2009) dollars 0.6 0.3 -0.2 0.4 0.2
Personal consumption expenditures:
Current dollars -0.3 0.2 0.6 0.1 0.9
Chained (2009) dollars 0.2 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.6
FOOTNOTE._________
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 (2009) dollars.
This news release is available on BEA’s Web site at www.bea.gov/newsreleases/rels.htm.
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Compensation
Wages and salaries increased $37.1 billion in May, compared with an increase of $21.6 billion in April.
Private wages and salaries increased $34.8 billion, compared with an increase of $19.4 billion. Government
wages and salaries increased $2.4 billion, compared with an increase of $2.1 billion.
Supplements to wages and salaries increased $5.7 billion in May, compared with an increase of $4.5 billion in April.
Other personal income
Proprietors' income increased $10.5 billion in May, compared with an increase of $4.4 billion in April.
Farm proprietors' income increased $3.9 billion in May, the same increase as in April. Nonfarm proprietors'
income increased $6.5 billion in May, compared with an increase of $0.5 billion in April.
Rental income of persons increased $5.4 billion in May, compared with an increase of $5.0 billion in April.
Personal income receipts on assets (personal interest income plus personal dividend income) increased $22.8 billion,
compared with an increase of $30.4 billion. Personal current transfer receipts increased $2.4 billion in May,
compared with an increase of $6.2 billion in April.
Contributions for government social insurance -- a subtraction in calculating personal income -- increased $4.8 billion
in May, compared with an increase of $2.6 billion in April.
Personal current taxes and disposable personal income
Personal current taxes increased $13.5 billion in May, compared with an increase of $12.6 billion in April.
Disposable personal income (DPI) -- personal income less personal current taxes -- increased $65.5 billion, or 0.5 percent,
in May, compared with an increase of $57.0 billion, or 0.4 percent, in April.
Personal outlays and personal saving
Personal outlays -- PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments -- increased $106.9 billion
in May, compared with an increase of $9.5 billion in April. PCE increased $105.9 billion, compared with an increase of $8.5 billion.
Personal saving -- DPI less personal outlays -- was $685.5 billion in May, compared with $726.9 billion in April.
The personal saving rate -- personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income -- was 5.1 percent in May,
compared with 5.4 percent in April. For a comparison of personal saving in BEA's national income and product
accounts with personal saving in the Federal Reserve Board's financial accounts of the United States and data on changes
in net worth, go to www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/nipa-frb.asp.
Real DPI, real PCE, and price index
Real DPI -- DPI adjusted to remove price changes -- increased 0.2 percent in May, compared with an increase of 0.4 percent in April.
Real PCE -- PCE adjusted to remove price changes -- increased 0.6 percent in May, compared with an increase of less
than 0.1 percent
in April. Purchases of durable goods increased 2.3 percent, in contrast to a decrease of 0.1 percent. Purchases of motor vehicles
and parts accounted for about half of the increase in May, and more than accounted for the decrease in April. Purchases of nondurable
goods increased 0.9 percent in May, in contrast to a decrease of 0.3 percent in April. Purchases of services increased 0.2 percent
in May, the same increase as in April.
The price index for PCE increased 0.3 percent in May, compared with an increase of less than 0.1 percent in April. The PCE price
index, excluding food and energy, increased 0.1 percent in May, the same increase as in April.
The May price index for PCE increased 0.2 percent from May a year ago. The May PCE price index, excluding food and energy,
increased 1.2 percent from May a year ago.
Revisions
Estimates have been revised for January through April. Changes in personal income, in current-dollar and chained (2009) dollar DPI,
and in current-dollar and chained (2009) dollar PCE for March and April -- revised and as published in last month's release -- are shown below.
Change from preceding month
March April
Previous Revised Previous Revised Previous Revised Previous Revised
(Billions of dollars) (Percent) (Billions of dollars) (Percent)
Personal income:
Current dollars 4.0 6.0 0.0 0.0 59.4 69.6 0.4 0.5
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars 0.5 1.8 0.0 0.0 48.8 57.0 0.4 0.4
Chained (2009) dollars -18.8 -21.2 -0.2 -0.2 41.8 47.7 0.3 0.4
Personal consumption expenditures:
Current dollars 65.6 78.0 0.5 0.6 -2.6 8.5 0.0 0.1
Chained (2009) dollars 42.8 50.9 0.4 0.5 -5.2 3.5 0.0 0.0
BOX.______________
Upcoming Annual Revision of the National Income and Product Accounts
As part of the annual revision of the national income and product accounts, revised estimates of personal income
and outlays will be released in conjunction with preliminary estimates for June 2015 on August 3, 2015.
In addition to the regular revision of estimates for the most recent 3 years and for the first 5 months of 2015,
personal income and select components will be revised back further. The June Survey of Current Business will
contain an article that previews the annual revision, and the August Survey will contain an article that describes the results.
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BEA's national, international, regional, and industry estimates; BEA news releases; and related articles in the
Survey of Current Business are available for free on BEA's Web site at www.bea.gov. The entire historical time
series for these estimates can be accessed in BEA's Interactive Data Application at www.bea.gov/itable/.
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You also can access BEA data by registering for our Data Application Programming Interface, or API at www.bea.gov/API/signup/index.cfm.
BEA's news release schedule is available at www.bea.gov/newsreleases/2015rd.htm.
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Next release – August 3, 2015 at 8:30 A.M. EDT for Personal Income and Outlays for June