Personal income increased $50.2 billion (0.3 percent) in September according to estimates released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Disposable personal income (DPI) increased $55.7 billion (0.3 percent) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $24.3 billion (0.2 percent).

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

2019 May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Percent change from preceding month Personal income: Current dollars 0.4 0.4 0.1 0.5 0.3 Disposable personal income: Current dollars 0.3 0.4 0.2 0.6 0.3 Chained (2012) dollars 0.2 0.3 0.0 0.5 0.3 Personal consumption expenditures (PCE): Current dollars 0.4 0.3 0.5 0.2 0.2 Chained (2012) dollars 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.2 Price indexes: PCE 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.0 0.0 PCE, excluding food and energy 0.1 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 Price indexes: Percent change from month one year ago PCE 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.3 PCE, excluding food and energy 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.7

The increase in personal income in September primarily reflected increases in personal interest income, farm proprietors' income, and government social benefits to persons (table 3).

BEA adjusted September wages and salaries downward by $1.9 billion (at an annual rate) to account for the United Automobile Workers work stoppage that began on September 16th. This adjustment was necessary because the source data BEA primarily uses to estimate monthly wages and salaries – the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Current Employment Statistics survey – did not capture the strike's effects.

Farm proprietors' income increased $23.3 billion in August and $12.1 billion in September; payments associated with the Department of Agriculture's Market Facilitation Program were substantial contributors to both increases.

The $22.8 billion increase in real PCE in September reflected an increase of $18.4 billion in spending for goods and a $6.5 billion increase in spending for services (table 7). Within goods, new motor vehicles was the leading contributor to the increase. Within services, the largest contributor to the increase was spending for health care. Detailed information on monthly real PCE spending can be found on Table 2.3.6U.

Personal outlays increased $23.0 billion in September (table 3). Personal saving was $1.38 trillion in September and the personal saving rate, personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income, was 8.3 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 as 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 23.6 21.2 0.1 0.1 73.5 87.5 0.4 0.5 Disposable personal income: Current dollars 42.0 39.7 0.3 0.2 77.7 92.2 0.5 0.6 Chained (2012) dollars 2.6 -0.9 0.0 0.0 65.8 80.3 0.4 0.5 Personal consumption expenditures: Current dollars 72.7 74.8 0.5 0.5 20.1 32.1 0.1 0.2 Chained (2012) dollars 34.5 35.3 0.3 0.3 13.9 26.0 0.1 0.2

Personal Income and Outlays Release Dates for 2020 December 2019 - January 31 April 2020 - May 29 August 2020 - October 1 January 2020 - February 28 May 2020 - June 26 September 2020 - October 30 February 2020 - March 27 June 2020 - July 31 October 2020 - November 25 March 2020 - April 30 July 2020 - August 28 November 2020 - December 23