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EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 a.m. EDT, Friday, March 31, 2023

BEA 23–13

Personal Income and Outlays, February 2023

Personal income increased $72.9 billion (0.3 percent) in February, according to estimates released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (tables 3 and 5). Disposable personal income (DPI) increased $89.9 billion (0.5 percent) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $27.9 billion (0.2 percent).

The PCE price index increased 0.3 percent. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index also increased 0.3 percent (table 9). Real DPI increased 0.2 percent in February and Real PCE decreased 0.1 percent; goods and services each decreased 0.1 percent (tables 5 and 7).

	2022			2023
	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Jan.	Feb.
	Percent change from preceding month
Personal income:
Current dollars	0.9	0.4	0.3	0.6	0.3
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars	1.1	0.6	0.4	2.0	0.5
Chained (2012) dollars	0.7	0.4	0.2	1.5	0.2
Personal consumption expenditures (PCE):
Current dollars	0.7	-0.2	0.0	2.0	0.2
Chained (2012) dollars	0.3	-0.4	-0.2	1.5	-0.1
Price indexes:
PCE	0.4	0.2	0.2	0.6	0.3
PCE, excluding food and energy	0.3	0.2	0.4	0.5	0.3
Price indexes:	Percent change from month one year ago
PCE	6.1	5.7	5.3	5.3	5.0
PCE, excluding food and energy	5.1	4.8	4.6	4.7	4.6

The increase in current-dollar personal income in February was led by an increase in compensation (table 3), mainly from wages and salaries. Private wages and salaries for services-producing industries and government wages and salaries increased.

The $27.9 billion increase in current-dollar PCE in February reflected an increase of $25.8 billion in spending for services and an increase of $2.0 billion in spending for goods (table 3). Within services, increases in housing and health care were partly offset by a decrease in food services and accommodations. Within goods, increases in gasoline and other energy goods, “other” nondurable goods (led by pharmaceuticals), and food and beverages were partly offset by a decrease in motor vehicles and parts (mainly new and used light trucks). Detailed monthly PCE spending data are presented on Table 2.4.5U.

Personal outlays increased $40.7 billion in February (table 3). Personal saving was $915.8 billion in February and the personal saving rate—personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income—was 4.6 percent (table 1).

Prices

From the preceding month, the PCE price index for February increased 0.3 percent (table 9). Prices for goods increased 0.2 percent and prices for services increased 0.3 percent. Food prices increased 0.2 percent and energy prices decreased 0.4 percent. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.3 percent. Detailed monthly PCE price indexes are presented on Table 2.4.4U.

From the same month one year ago, the PCE price index for February increased 5.0 percent (table 11). Prices for goods increased 3.6 percent and prices for services increased 5.7 percent. Food prices increased 9.7 percent and energy prices increased 5.1 percent. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 4.6 percent from one year ago.

Real PCE

The 0.1 percent decrease in real PCE in February reflected a decrease of 0.1 percent in spending on goods and a decrease of 0.1 percent in spending on services (table 7). Within goods, a decrease in motor vehicles and parts (specifically new motor vehicles) was partly offset by an increase in gasoline and other energy goods. Within services, the largest contributor to the decrease was food services and accommodations (mainly food services). Detailed monthly real PCE spending data are presented on Table 2.4.6U.

Updates to Personal Income and Outlays

Estimates have been updated for October through January. 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 provided below.

	Change from preceding month
	December				January
	Previous	Revised	Previous	Revised	Previous	Revised	Previous	Revised
	(Billions of dollars)		(Percent)		(Billions of dollars)		(Percent)
Personal income:
Current dollars	70.9	70.2	0.3	0.3	131.1	124.1	0.6	0.6
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars	77.6	81.6	0.4	0.4	387.4	391.8	2.0	2.0
Chained (2012) dollars	31.3	34.4	0.2	0.2	213.2	223.9	1.4	1.5
Personal consumption expenditures:
Current dollars	-23.2	1.5	-0.1	0.0	312.5	360.8	1.8	2.0
Chained (2012) dollars	-47.1	-27.4	-0.3	-0.2	161.0	206.0	1.1	1.5

* * *

Next release: April 28, 2023, at 8:30 a.m. EDT
Personal Income and Outlays, March 2023

Full Release & Tables (PDF)

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Release Highlights (PDF)

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Personal Income

Lisa Mataloni

301-278-9083

piniwd@bea.gov

PCE Goods

Kyle Brown

301-278-9086

pce@bea.gov

PCE Services

Jeff Barnett

301-278-9663

pce@bea.gov

Media

Connie O'Connell

301-278-9003

Connie.OConnell@bea.gov

Resources

Additional Resources available at www.bea.gov:

The full economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be quantified in these statistics because the impacts are generally embedded in source data and cannot be separately identified. For more Information about COVID-19 impacts, refer to Federal Recovery Programs and BEA Statistics on our website.
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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 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, refer to 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, refer to the FAQ "Why does BEA publish estimates at annual rates?"

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, refer to 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, refer to 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 chained-dollar values, a "residual" line shows the difference between the sum of detailed chained-dollar series and its corresponding aggregate.