News Release

EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EDT, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2009
BEA 09-44

Personal Income and Outlays, August 2009

Personal income increased $19.3 billion, or 0.2 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI)
increased $15.5 billion, or 0.1 percent, inAugust, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $129.6 billion, or 1.3 percent.  In July,
personal income increased $19.4 billion, or 0.2 percent, DPI decreased $2.0 billion, or less than 0.1
percent, and PCE increased $25.2 billion, or 0.3 percent, based on revised estimates.

Real disposable income decreased 0.2 percent in August, compared with a decrease of 0.1
percent in July.  Real PCE increased 0.9 percent, compared with an increase of 0.2 percent.

                                        2009
                                        Apr.            May             June            July            Aug.
                                                       (Percent change from preceding month)
Personal income, current dollars        0.2             1.3            -1.1             0.2             0.2
Disposable personal income:
 Current dollars                        0.9             1.6            -1.1             0.0             0.1
 Chained (2005) dollars                 0.9             1.5            -1.6            -0.1            -0.2
Personal consumption expenditures:
 Current dollars                       -0.1             0.1             0.7             0.3             1.3
 Chained (2005) dollars                -0.2             0.0             0.2             0.2             0.9

                                Wages and salaries

Private wage and salary disbursements increased $8.5 billion in August, compared with an increase
of $8.6 billion in July.  Goods-producing industries' payrolls decreased $5.5 billion, in contrast
to an increase of $0.7 billion; manufacturing payrolls decreased $3.3 billion, in contrast to an
increase of $4.7 billion.  Services-producing industries' payrolls increased $14.0 billion, compared
with an increase of $7.9 billion.  Government wage and salary disbursements increased $2.5 billion,
compared with an increase of $0.8 billion.

                                Other personal income

Supplements to wages and salaries increased $1.9 billion in August, compared with an increase of
$2.0 billion in July.

Proprietors' income increased $5.4 billion in August, compared with an increase of $7.3 billion in
July.  Farm proprietors' income decreased $1.6 billion, compared with a decrease of $1.2 billion.
Nonfarm proprietors' income increased $7.0 billion, compared with an increase of $8.5 billion.

Rental income of persons increased $5.8 billion in August, compared with an increase of $5.9 billion
in July.  Personal income receipts on assets (personal interest income plus personal dividend income)
decreased $15.6 billion, the same decrease as in July.  Personal current transfer receipts increased
$12.1 billion in August, compared with an increase of $11.7 billion in July.

Contributions for government social insurance -- a subtraction in calculating personal income --
increased $1.5 billion in August, compared with an increase of $1.2 billion in July.

                                Personal current taxes and disposable personal income

Personal current taxes increased $3.8 billion in August, compared with an increase of $21.5 billion
in July.  Disposable personal income (DPI) -- personal income less personal current taxes --
increased $15.5 billion, or 0.1 percent, in August, in contrast to a decrease of $2.0 billion,
or less than 0.1 percent, in July.

                                Personal outlays and personal saving

Personal outlays -- PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments --
increased $127.3 billion inAugust, compared with an increase of $22.9 billion in July.
PCE increased $129.6 billion, compared with an increase of $25.2 billion.

Personal saving -- DPI less personal outlays -- was $324.1 billion in August, compared with
$436.0 billion in July. Personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income was
3.0 percent in August, compared with 4.0 percent in July.  For a comparison of personal saving
in BEAs national income and product accounts with personal saving in the Federal Reserve
Boards flow of funds accounts and data on changes in net worth, go to
/national/nipaweb/Nipa-Frb.asp.

                                Real DPI, real PCE and PCE price index

Real DPI -- DPI adjusted to remove price changes -- decreased 0.2 percent in August,
compared with a decrease of 0.1 percent in July.

Real PCE -- PCE adjusted to remove price changes -- increased 0.9 percent in August,
compared with an increase of 0.2 percent in July.  Purchases of durable goods increased
5.8 percent, compared with an increase of 1.8 percent.  Reflecting the impact of the federal
CARS program (popularly called "cash for clunkers"), purchases of motor
vehicles and parts accounted for most of the August increase in purchases of
durable goods and more than accounted for the July increase.  This program,
which began in July and ended on August 24, 2009, provided credit for
customers who purchased a qualifying new, more fuel efficient auto or light
truck.  For further information on how the CARS program is reflected in the
GDP statistics, please see the FAQ at BEAs Web site, www.bea.gov, How will
the federal Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act of 2009 (i.e., the
CARS program) be reflected in the National Income and Product Accounts
(NIPAs)?  Purchases of nondurable goods increased 1.0 percent in August, in
contrast to a decrease of 0.3 percent in July.  Purchases of services
increased 0.2 percent, compared with an increase of 0.1 percent.

PCE price index -- The price index for PCE increased 0.3 percent in August, compared with an
increase of less than 0.1 percent in July.  The PCE price index, excluding food and energy,
increased 0.1 percent, the same increase as in July.

                                Revisions

Estimates have been revised for April through July.  Changes in personal income, current-dollar
and chained (2005) dollar DPI, and current-dollar and chained (2005) dollar PCE for June and
July -- revised and as published in last month's release -- 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...................... -133.4     -135.3    -1.1       -1.1       3.8        19.4      0.0        0.2
Disposable personal income:
 Current Dollars...................... -119.9     -119.6    -1.1       -1.1      -4.6       -2.0       0.0        0.0
 Chained (2005) dollars............... -164.5     -163.7    -1.6       -1.6      -7.6       -5.6      -0.1       -0.1
Personal consumption expenditures:
 Current dollars......................  60.9       71.3      0.6        0.7       25.0       25.2      0.2        0.3
 Chained (2005) dollars...............  6.2        16.2      0.1        0.2       19.7       19.5      0.2        0.2

BEAs national, international, regional, and industry estimates; the Survey of Current Business;
and BEA news releases are available without charge on BEAs 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  October 30, 2009 at 8:30 A.M. EDT for Personal Income and Outlays for September.

                                        -more-
________________________

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 BEAs Web site at www.bea.gov/newsreleases/rels.htm.