News Release

EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EDT, Thursday, August 30, 2018.
BEA 18-44

Personal Income and Outlays, July 2018

Personal income increased $54.8 billion (0.3 percent) in July according to estimates released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Disposable personal income (DPI) increased $52.5 billion (0.3 percent) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $49.3 billion (0.4 percent).

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

  2018
  Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul.
  Percent change from preceding month
Personal income:
Current dollars 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.3
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.3
Chained (2012) dollars 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.2
Personal consumption expenditures (PCE):
Current dollars 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4
Chained (2012) dollars 0.6 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.2
Price indexes:
PCE 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1
PCE, excluding food and energy 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.2
Price indexes: Percent change from month one year ago
PCE 2.1 2.0 2.2 2.2 2.3
PCE, excluding food and energy 2.0 1.9 2.0 1.9 2.0

The increase in personal income in July primarily reflected increases in wages and salaries, personal dividend income, and rental income (table 3).

The $29.6 billion increase in real PCE in July reflected an increase of $10.9 billion in spending for goods and a $18.9 billion increase in spending for services (table 7). Within goods, prescription drugs was the leading contributor to the increase. Within services, the largest contributor to the increase was spending for food services and accommodations. Detailed information on monthly real PCE spending can be found in Table 2.3.6U.

Personal outlays increased $52.7 billion in July (table 3). Personal saving was $1,048.1 billion in July and the personal saving rate, personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income, was 6.7 percent (table 1).

Updates to Personal Income and Outlays

Estimates have been updated for January through June. The percent change from the preceding month for current-dollar personal income, and for current-dollar and chained (2012) dollar DPI and PCE -- revised and previously published in last month's release -- are shown below.

  Change from preceeding month
  May June
  Previous Revised Previous Revised Previous Revised Previous Revised
  (Billions of dollars) (Percent) (Billions of dollars) (Percent)
Personal income:
Current dollars 65.9 60.0 0.4 0.3 71.7 66.1 0.4 0.4
Disposable Personal income:
Current dollars 61.6 57.5 0.4 0.4 65.3 59.6 0.4 0.4
Chained (2012) dollars 29.3 25.3 0.2 0.2 45.8 38.9 0.3 0.3
Personal consumption expenditures:
Current dollars 65.4 75.0 0.5 0.5 57.1 51.2 0.4 0.4
Chained (2012) dollars 35.7 44.4 0.3 0.3 39.7 32.8 0.3 0.3

 

QCEW Data Included in the First Quarter of 2018
This news release includes revised estimates of wages and salaries, personal taxes, and contributions for government social insurance for January through March 2018 (first quarter). These estimates reflect the incorporation of the most recently available first-quarter wage and salary tabulations from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program.

Next release: September 28, 2018 at 8:30 A.M. EDT
Personal Income and Outlays: August 2018