EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EST, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2011
BEA 11-08
James Rankin: (202) 606-5301 (Personal Income) piniwd@bea.gov
Kyle Brown: (202) 606-5302 (Personal Consumption Expenditures) pce@bea.gov
* See the navigation bar at the right side of the news release text for links to data tables,
contact personnel and their telephone numbers, and supplementary materials.
Personal Income and Outlays, January 2011
Personal income increased $133.2 billion, or 1.0 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI)
increased $78.3 billion, or 0.7 percent, in January, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $23.7 billion, or 0.2 percent. In December,
personal income increased $56.6 billion, or 0.4 percent, DPI increased $48.5 billion, or 0.4 percent,
and PCE increased $56.5 billion, or 0.5 percent, based on revised estimates.
Real disposable income increased 0.4 percent in January, compared with an increase of 0.1
percent in December. Real PCE decreased 0.1 percent, in contrast to an increase of 0.3 percent.
2010 2011
Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan.
(Percent change from preceding month)
Personal income, current dollars 0.0 0.5 0.3 0.4 1.0
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars -0.1 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.7
Chained (2005) dollars -0.1 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.4
Personal consumption expenditures:
Current dollars 0.3 0.7 0.3 0.5 0.2
Chained (2005) dollars 0.2 0.5 0.2 0.3 -0.1
The January change in disposable personal income (DPI) was affected by two large special factors.
Reduced employee contributions for government social insurance, which reflected provisions of the Tax
Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010, boosted personal income in
January by reducing the employee social security contribution rates (employee contributions for government
social insurance are a subtraction in the calculation of personal income). The January change in DPI
was affected by the expiration of the Making Work Pay provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009, which boosted personal current taxes and reduced DPI (personal current taxes are a subtraction
in the calculation of DPI). Excluding these two special factors, which are discussed more fully below, DPI
increased $11.4 billion, or 0.1 percent, in January, following an increase of $48.5 billion, or 0.4 percent, in December.
Wages and salaries
Private wage and salary disbursements increased $14.8 billion in January, compared with an increase of $20.8 billion
in December. Goods-producing industries' payrolls increased $10.0 billion, compared with an increase
of $2.5 billion; manufacturing payrolls increased $7.0 billion, compared with an increase of $2.6 billion.
Services-producing industries' payrolls increased $4.8 billion, compared with an increase of $18.2 billion.
Government wage and salary disbursements increased $1.9 billion, compared with an increase of $1.0 billion.
Other personal income
Employer contributions for employee pension and insurance funds increased $3.4 billion in January,
compared with an increase of $2.7 billion in December.
Employer contributions for government social insurance increased $8.6 billion in January, compared
with an increase of $1.1 billion in December. The January increase was boosted by $7.5 billion
reflecting an increase in the tax rates paid by employers to state unemployment funds. (Changes
in employer contributions for government social insurance do not affect personal income, because
employer contributions for government social insurance are also included in total contributions
for government social insurance, which is a subtraction in the calculation of personal income.)
Proprietors' income increased $3.9 billion in January, compared with an increase of $8.2 billion
in December. Farm proprietors' income increased $1.6 billion, compared with an increase of $1.5 billion.
Nonfarm proprietors' income increased $2.3 billion, compared with an increase of $6.6 billion.
Rental income of persons increased $6.5 billion in January, compared with an increase of $1.9 billion
in December. Personal income receipts on assets (personal interest income plus personal dividend income)
increased $10.3 billion, compared with an increase of $21.1 billion.
Personal current transfer receipts decreased $11.2 billion, in contrast to an increase of $2.4 billion.
The January decrease in personal current transfer receipts reflected a decrease of $8.9 billion
to the Earned Income Credit based on federal budget projections.
Contributions for government social insurance -- a subtraction in calculating personal income -- decreased
$94.9 billion in January, in contrast to an increase of $2.5 billion in December. The January decrease
reflected decreases in personal contributions for government social insurance and increases in employer
contributions. The January decrease in personal contributions for government social insurance
reflected the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010, which
temporarily decreased the social security contribution rate for employees and self-employed workers by
2.0 percentage points for 2011, or $105.4 billion at an annual rate. As noted above, employer contributions
were boosted $7.5 billion in January by increases in the unemployment-insurance rate.
Personal current taxes and disposable personal income
Personal current taxes increased $55.0 billion in January, compared with an increase of $8.0 billion
in December. Expiration of the Making Work Pay Credit provision of the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009 boosted federal withheld income taxes by $38.6 billion in January. Federal net nonwithheld
income taxes (payments of estimated taxes plus final settlements less refunds) boosted the January change
by $11.3 billion, based on the Office of Tax Analysis projections of higher final settlement and refunds
for 2010. Disposable personal income (DPI) -- personal income less personal current taxes -- increased
$78.3 billion, or 0.7 percent, in January, compared with an increase of $48.5 billion, or 0.4 percent in December.
Personal outlays and personal saving
Personal outlays -- PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments -- increased
$22.1 billion in January, compared with an increase of $54.4 billion in December. PCE increased
$23.7 billion, compared with an increase of $56.5 billion.
Personal saving -- DPI less personal outlays -- was $677.1 billion in January, compared with $620.9 billion
in December. Personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income was 5.8 percent in January,
compared with 5.4 percent in December. For a comparison of personal saving in BEA’s national income and
product accounts with personal saving in the Federal Reserve Board’s flow of funds accounts and data
on changes in net worth, go to http://www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/Nipa-Frb.asp
Real DPI, real PCE and price index
Real DPI -- DPI adjusted to remove price changes -- increased 0.4 percent in January, compared with an increase
of 0.1 percent in December.
Real PCE -- PCE adjusted to remove price changes -- decreased 0.1 percent in January, in contrast to an increase
of 0.3 percent in December. Purchases of durable goods increased 0.3 percent, compared with an increase of
1.2 percent. Purchases of motor vehicles and parts accounted for most of the increase in durable goods in
January and in December. Purchases of nondurable goods decreased 0.2 percent in January, in contrast to an
increase of 0.1 percent in December. Purchases of services decreased 0.1 percent, in contrast to an increase
of 0.2 percent.
PCE price index -- The price index for PCE increased 0.3 percent in January, the same increase as in December.
The PCE price index, excluding food and energy in January, increased 0.1 percent, compared with an increase
of less than 0.1 percent in December.
2010 Personal Income and Outlays
Personal income increased 3.0 percent in 2010 (that is, from the 2009 annual level to the 2010 annual level),
in contrast to a decrease of 1.7 percent in 2009. DPI increased 3.1 percent, compared with an increase of
0.7 percent. PCE increased 3.5 percent, in contrast to a decrease of 1.0 percent.
Real DPI increased 1.4 percent in 2010, compared with an increase of 0.6 percent in 2009. Real PCE increased
1.8 percent, in contrast to a decrease of 1.2 percent.
Revisions
Estimates for personal income and DPI have been revised for July through December; estimates for PCE have
been revised for October through December. Changes in personal income, current-dollar and chained (2005) dollar
DPI, and current-dollar and chained (2005) dollar PCE for November and December -- revised and as published
in last month's release -- are shown below.
For July through September, the revisions to wages and salaries reflect the incorporation of newly available
BLS tabulations of third-quarter private wages and salaries from the quarterly census of employment and wages.
Change from preceding month
November December
Previous Revised Previous Revised Previous Revised Previous Revised
(Billions of dollars) (Percent) (Billions of dollars) (Percent)
Personal Income:
Current dollars 44.9 33.0 0.4 0.3 54.5 56.6 0.4 0.4
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars 39.0 28.9 0.3 0.3 47.3 48.5 0.4 0.4
Chained (2005) dollars 24.9 17.4 0.2 0.2 10.4 15.3 0.1 0.1
Personal consumption expenditures:
Current dollars 35.4 34.4 0.3 0.3 69.5 56.5 0.7 0.5
Chained (2005) dollars 22.6 23.1 0.2 0.2 33.0 25.0 0.4 0.3
This news release also presents revised estimates of wages and salaries, personal taxes, and contributions for government
social insurance for July through September 2010 (third quarter). These estimates reflect newly available
third-quarter wage and salary tabulations from the quarterly census of employment and wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
BEA’s national, international, regional, and industry estimates; the Survey of Current Business; and BEA news releases are
available without charge on BEA’s Web site at www.bea.gov. By visiting the site, you can also subscribe to receive free
e-mail summaries of BEA releases and announcements.
* * *
Next release – March 28, 2011 at 8:30 A.M. EDT for Personal Income and Outlays for February.
-more-
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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 (2005) dollars.
This news release is available on BEA’s Web site at www.bea.gov/newsreleases/rels.htm.
