News Release

EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EDT, Monday, October 29, 2018
18-57

Personal Income and Outlays, September 2018

Personal income increased $35.7 billion (0.2 percent) in September according to estimates released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Disposable personal income (DPI) increased $29.1 billion (0.2 percent) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $53.0 billion (0.4 percent).

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

  2018
  May Jun Jul. Aug. Sept.
  Percent change from preceding month
Personal income:
Current dollars 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.2
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.2
Chained (2012) dollars 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.1
Personal consumption expenditures (PCE):
Current dollars 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.4
Chained (2012) dollars 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.3
Price indexes:
PCE 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1
PCE, excluding food and energy 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.0 0.2
Price indexes: Percent change from month one year ago
PCE 2.3 2.3 2.3 2.2 2.0
PCE, excluding food and energy 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0

The increase in personal income in September primarily reflected increases in wages and salaries, government social benefits to persons, and rental income of persons that were partially offset by a decrease in proprietors’ income (table 3).

The $33.2 billion increase in real PCE in September reflected an increase of $33.5 billion in spending for goods and a $3.5 billion increase in spending for services (table 7). Within goods, motor vehicles and parts was the leading contributor to the increase, with strong contribution from recreational goods and vehicles. Within services, the largest contributor to the increase was spending for health care that was more than offset by a decrease in spending for food services and accommodations. Detailed information on monthly real PCE spending can be found in Table 2.3.6U.

Personal outlays increased $57.9 billion in September (table 3). Personal saving was $975.7 billion in September, and the personal saving rate, personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income, was 6.2 percent (table 1).


Updates to Personal Income and Outlays

Estimates have been updated for July and August. 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 preceding month
  July August
  Previous Revised Previous Revised Previous Revised Previous Revised
  (Billions of dollars) (Percent) (Billions of dollars) (Percent)
Personal income:
Current dollars 51.9 56.4 0.3 0.3 60.3 67.0 0.3 0.4
Disposable Personal income:
Current dollars 45.5 46.0 0.3 0.3 51.4 55.4 0.3 0.4
Chained (2012) dollars 22.8 22.7 0.2 0.2 31.8 35.8 0.2 0.2
Personal consumption expenditures:
Current dollars 62.7 65.3 0.4 0.5 46.4 64.9 0.3 0.5
Chained (2012) dollars 40.6 42.6 0.3 0.3 28.7 46.1 0.2 0.4

 

Next release: November 29, 2018 at 8:30 A.M. EST
Personal Income and Outlays: October 2018