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EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EDT, FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 2021

BEA 21-19

Personal Income and Outlays, March 2021

Personal income increased $4.21 trillion (21.1 percent) in March according to estimates released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (tables 3 and 5). Disposable personal income (DPI) increased $4.18 trillion (23.6 percent) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $616.0 billion (4.2 percent).

Real DPI increased 23.0 percent in March and Real PCE increased 3.6 percent; goods increased 7.3 percent and services increased 1.7 percent (tables 5 and 7). The PCE price index increased 0.5 percent. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.4 percent (table 9).

COVID-19 Impact on March 2021 Personal Income and Outlays

The estimate for March personal income and outlays was impacted by the continued government response to COVID-19. Economic impact payments associated with the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (which was enacted on March 11, 2021) were distributed in March. The full economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be quantified in the personal income and outlays estimate because the impacts are generally embedded in source data and cannot be separately identified. For more information, see Effects of Selected Federal Pandemic Response Programs on Personal Income.

	2020		2021
	Nov.	Dec.	Jan.	Feb.	Mar.
Percent change from preceding month
Personal income:
Current dollars	-1.2	0.5	10.3	-7.0	21.1
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars	-1.4	0.6	11.6	-7.9	23.6
Chained (2012) dollars	-1.4	0.2	11.3	-8.1	23.0
Personal consumption expenditures (PCE):
Current dollars	-0.6	-0.6	3.4	-1.0	4.2
Chained (2012) dollars	-0.6	-0.9	3.1	-1.2	3.6
Price indexes:
PCE	0.0	0.4	0.3	0.2	0.5
PCE, excluding food and energy	0.0	0.3	0.2	0.1	0.4
Price indexes:	Percent change from month one year ago
PCE	1.1	1.2	1.4	1.5	2.3
PCE, excluding food and energy	1.3	1.4	1.4	1.4	1.8

The increase in personal income in March largely reflected an increase in government social benefits (table 3). Within government social benefits, “other” social benefits increased. The American Rescue Plan Act established an additional round of direct economic impact payments to households.

The $616.0 billion increase in current dollar PCE in March reflected an increase of $403.0 billion in spending for goods and a $213.1 billion increase in spending for services (table 3). Within goods, both nondurable (led by “other” nondurable goods, which includes recreational items like games, toys, and hobbies) and durable goods (led by motor vehicles and parts) contributed to the increase. Within services, the largest contributor to the increase was spending for food services and accommodations. Detailed information on monthly PCE spending can be found on Table 2.3.5U.

Personal outlays increased $616.4 billion in March (table 3). Personal saving was $6.04 trillion in March and the personal saving rate—personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income—was 27.6 percent (table 1).

Annual Update of the National Economic Accounts

BEA will release results from the 2021 annual update of the National Economic Accounts, which includes the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPAs) as well as the Industry Economic Accounts, later this year. Updated monthly personal income and outlays will be released on July 30, 2021, along with the June 2021 estimate. For more information, see the GDP Technical Note.

Updates to Personal Income and Outlays

Estimates have been updated for January and February. Revised and previously published changes from the preceding month for current-dollar personal income, and for current-dollar and chained (2012) dollar DPI and PCE, 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	1,970.9	2,007.0	10.1	10.3	-1,516.6	-1,503.3	-7.1	-7.0
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars	1,971.4	2,001.9	11.4	11.6	-1,532.3	-1,519.9	-8.0	-7.9
Chained (2012) dollars	1,701.9	1,736.2	11.1	11.3	-1,398.5	-1,389.0	-8.2	-8.1
Personal consumption expenditures:
Current dollars	487.9	485.2	3.4	3.4	-149.0	-150.8	-1.0	-1.0
Chained (2012) dollars	391.2	394.3	3.0	3.1	-162.7	-165.1	-1.2	-1.2

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Next release: May 28, 2021 at 8:30 A.M. EDT
Personal Income and Outlays, April 2021

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Full Release & Tables (PDF)

Tables Only (Excel)

Release Highlights (PDF)

Historical Comparisons (PDF)

Effects of Selected Federal Pandemic Response Programs on Personal Income (PDF)

Effects of Selected Federal Pandemic Response Programs on Personal Income (Excel)

Personal Income

Marissa Crawford

(301) 278-9729

piniwd@bea.gov

PCE Goods

Kyle Brown

301-278-9086

pce@bea.gov

PCE Services

Jeff Barnett

301-278-9663

pce@bea.gov

News Media

Jeannine Aversa

(301) 278-9003

Jeannine.Aversa@bea.gov

Resources

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Historical time series for these estimates can be accessed in BEA’s Interactive Data Application.
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NIPA Handbook: Concepts and Methods of the U.S. National Income and Product Accounts

Definitions

Personal income is the income received by, or on behalf of, all persons from all sources: from participation as laborers in production, from owning a home or business, from the ownership of financial assets, and from government and business in the form of transfers. It includes income from domestic sources as well as the rest of world. It does not include realized or unrealized capital gains or losses.

Disposable personal income e is the income available to persons for spending or saving. It is equal to personal income less personal current taxes.

Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) is the value of the goods and services purchased by, or on the behalf of, “persons” who reside in the United States.

Personal outlays is the sum of PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments.

Personal saving is personal income less personal outlays and personal current taxes.

The personal saving rate is personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income.

Current-dollar estimates are valued in the prices of the period when the transactions occurred—that is, at “market value.” Also referred to as “nominal estimates” or as “current-price estimates.”

Real values are inflation-adjusted estimates—that is, estimates that exclude the effects of price changes.

For more definitions, see the Glossary: National Income and Product Accounts.

Statistical conventions

Annual rates. Monthly and quarterly values are expressed at seasonally-adjusted annual rates (SAAR). Dollar changes are calculated as the difference between these SAAR values. For detail, see the FAQ “Why does BEA publish estimates at annual rates?”

Calendar years and quarters. Unless noted otherwise, annual data are presented on a calendar-year basis (i.e., covering January through December). Quarterly data are presented on a calendar-quarter basis (i.e., Q1 = January, February, March; Q2 = April, May, June; Q3 = July, August, September; Q4 = October, November, December).

Month-to-month percent changes are calculated from unrounded data and are not annualized.

Quarter-to-quarter percent changes are calculated from unrounded data and are displayed at annual rates. For detail, see the FAQ “How is average annual growth calculated?” and “Why does BEA publish percent changes in quarterly series at annual rates?”

Quantities and prices. Quantities, or “real” volume measures, and prices are expressed as index numbers with a specified reference year equal to 100 (currently 2012). Quantity and price indexes are calculated using a Fisherchained weighted formula that incorporates weights from two adjacent periods (months for monthly data, quarters for quarterly data and annuals for annual data). For details on the calculation of quantity and price indexes, see Chapter 4: Estimating Methods in the NIPA Handbook.

Chained-dollar values are calculated by multiplying the quantity index by the current dollar value in the reference year (2012) and then dividing by 100. Percent changes calculated from real quantity indexes and chained-dollar levels are conceptually the same; any differences are due to rounding. Chained-dollar values are not additive because the relative weights for a given period differ from those of the reference year. In tables that display chaineddollar values, a "residual" line shows the difference between the sum of detailed chained-dollar series and its corresponding aggregate.