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EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EDT, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 01, 2020

BEA 20—49

Personal Income and Outlays, August 2020

Personal income decreased $543.5 billion (2.7 percent) in August according to estimates released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (tables 3 and 5). Disposable personal income (DPI) decreased $570.9 billion (3.2 percent) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $141.1 billion (1.0 percent).

Real DPI decreased 3.5 percent in August and Real PCE increased 0.7 percent (tables 5 and 7). The PCE price index increased 0.3 percent. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.3 percent..

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Impact on August 2020 Personal Income and Outlays

The August estimate for personal income and outlays was impacted by the response to the spread of COVID-19. Federal economic recovery payments slowed, as pandemic-related assistance programs begin to wind down. 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.

The decrease in personal income in August was more than accounted for by a decrease in unemployment insurance benefits, based primarily on unemployment claims data from the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (table 3). In particular, the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program which provided a temporary weekly supplemental payment of $600 for those receiving unemployment benefits expired on July 31. For more information, see “How will federal government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic affect unemployment insurance benefits?”.

Partially offsetting the decrease in unemployment insurance benefits was an increase in compensation in August. Government wage and salary disbursements increased $17.5 billion in August, following an increase of $14.5 billion in July. Temporary and intermittent Census decennial workers boosted government wages and salaries by $10.8 billion in August.

	2020
	Apr.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Aug.
	Percent change from preceding month
Personal income:
Current dollars	12.2	-4.2	-1.2	0.5	-2.7
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars	14.8	-4.8	-1.5	0.3	-3.2
Chained (2012) dollars	15.5	-5.0	-2.0	0.0	-3.5
Personal consumption expenditures (PCE):
Current dollars	-12.7	8.7	6.5	1.5	1.0
Chained (2012) dollars	-12.3	8.5	5.9	1.1	0.7
Price indexes:
PCE	-0.5	0.2	0.5	0.4	0.3
PCE, excluding food and energy	-0.4	0.2	0.3	0.4	0.3
Price indexes:	Percent change from month one year ago
PCE	0.5	0.5	0.9	1.1	1.4
PCE, excluding food and energy	0.9	1.0	1.1	1.4	1.6

The $86.1 billion increase in real PCE in August reflected an increase of $87.9 billion in spending for services that was partly offset by a $10.3 billion decrease in spending for goods (table 7). Within services, the leading contributors to the increase were spending for food services and accommodations as well as health care. Spending for food services and accommodations was based on Census Monthly Retail Trade Survey (MRTS) data and Smith Travel Research data. Within health care, both hospital and outpatient services increased, based on volume data for hospital services and outpatient visits as well as credit card data. Within goods, the leading contributor to the decrease was spending for food and beverages purchased for off-premises consumption, based on Census MRTS data. Detailed information on monthly real PCE spending can be found on Table 2.3.6U.

Personal outlays increased $152.9 billion in August (table 3). Personal saving was $2.43 trillion in August and the personal saving rate—personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income—was 14.1 percent (table 1).

Updates to Personal Income and Outlays

Estimates have been updated for April through July. 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
	June				July
	Previous	Revised	Previous	Revised	Previous	Revised	Previous	Revised
	(Billions of dollars)		(Percent)		(Billions of dollars)		(Percent)
Personal income:
Current dollars	-205.1	-239.1	-1.0	-1.2	70.5	91.9	0.4	0.5
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars	-238.3	-274.1	-1.3	-1.5	39.9	62.3	0.2	0.3
Chained (2012) dollars	-293.5	-327.4	-1.8	-2.0	-15.6	-5.9	-0.1	0.0
Personal consumption expenditures:
Current dollars	809.1	849.2	6.2	6.5	267.6	213.9	1.9	1.5
Chained (2012) dollars	673.5	707.9	5.7	5.9	200.6	143.6	1.6	1.1

Next release: October 30, 2020 at 8:30 A.M. EDT
Personal Income and Outlays: September 2020

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

Media (BEA)

Connie O'Connell

301-278-9003

Connie.OConnell@bea.gov

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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.