News Release
Personal Income and Outlays, December 2008
December 2008
Personal income decreased $25.3 billion, or 0.2 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI)
decreased $25.1 billion, or 0.2 percent, in December, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) decreased $102.4 billion, or 1.0 percent. In November,
personal income decreased $44.0 billion, or 0.4 percent, DPI decreased $33.9 billion, or 0.3 percent, and
PCE decreased $77.8 billion, or 0.8 percent, based on revised estimates.
Real disposable income increased 0.3 percent in December, compared with an increase of 0.8
percent in November. Real PCE decreased 0.5 percent, in contrast to an increase of 0.3 percent. The
price index for PCE decreased 0.5 percent, compared with a decrease of 1.1 percent.
2008
Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.
(Percent change from preceding month)
Personal income, current dollars 0.3 0.0 -0.1 -0.4 -0.2
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars -1.1 0.1 0.0 -0.3 -0.2
Chained (2000) dollars -1.1 0.0 0.5 0.8 0.3
Personal consumption expenditures:
Current dollars -0.2 -0.4 -1.1 -0.8 -1.0
Chained (2000) dollars -0.1 -0.5 -0.6 0.3 -0.5
Wages and salaries
Private wage and salary disbursements decreased $23.5 billion in December, compared with
a decrease of $12.1 billion in November. Goods-producing industries' payrolls decreased $15.7
billion, compared with a decrease of $4.4 billion; manufacturing payrolls decreased $9.6 billion,
compared with a decrease of $3.1 billion. Services-producing industries' payrolls decreased
$7.8 billion, compared with a decrease $7.7 billion. Government wage and salary disbursements
increased $2.3 billion, compared with an increase of $1.7 billion.
Other personal income
Proprietors' income decreased $6.8 billion in December, compared with a decrease of $17.6
billion in November. Farm proprietors' income decreased $0.9 billion, compared with a decrease of
$1.3 billion. Nonfarm proprietors' income decreased $5.9 billion, compared with a decrease of
$16.3 billion.
Rental income of persons increased $4.3 billion in December, compared with an increase of
$2.8 billion in November. Personal income receipts on assets (personal interest income plus
personal dividend income) decreased $29.0 billion, compared with a decrease of $28.8 billion.
Personal current transfer receipts increased $24.4 billion in December, compared with an
increase of $7.5 billion in November. The December increase in personal current transfer receipts
reflected retroactive social security benefits payments of $7.4 billion at an annual rate, resulting
from a recalculation of the earnings base underlying the benefits for recent retirees. The December
increase in personal current transfer receipts also reflected provisions of the Supplemental
Appropriations Act of 2008, which provides up to 13 weeks of additional unemployment
compensation benefits to those who have exhausted their regular unemployment benefits. The
additional unemployment benefits boosted the level of personal current transfer receipts by $7.1
billion in December.
Contributions for government social insurance -- a subtraction in calculating personal income --
decreased $3.1 billion in December, compared with a decrease of $1.9 billion in November.
Personal current taxes and disposable personal income
Personal current taxes decreased $0.2 billion in December, compared with a decrease of $10.1
billion in November. Disposable personal income (DPI) -- personal income less personal current
taxes -- decreased $25.1 billion, or 0.2 percent, in December, compared with a decrease of $33.9
billion, or 0.3 percent, in November.
Personal outlays and personal saving
Personal outlays -- PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments
decreased $104.6 billion in December, compared with a decrease of $80.0 billion in November.
PCE decreased $102.4 billion, compared with a decrease of $77.8 billion.
Personal saving -- DPI less personal outlays -- was $378.6 billion in December, compared
with $299.1 billion in November. Personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal
income was 3.6 percent in December, compared with 2.8 percent in November. 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,
which help finance consumption, go to www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/Nipa-Frb.asp.
Real DPI and real PCE
Real DPI -- DPI adjusted to remove price changes -- increased 0.3 percent in December,
compared with an increase of 0.8 percent in November.
Real PCE -- PCE adjusted to remove price changes -- decreased 0.5 percent in December, in
contrast to an increase of 0.3 percent in November. Purchases of durable goods decreased 0.8
percent, in contrast to an increase of 1.0 percent. Purchases of nondurable goods decreased 1.8
percent in December, in contrast to an increase of 0.9 percent in November. Purchases of services
increased 0.1 percent, in contrast to a decrease of less than 0.1 percent.
PCE price index -- the price index for PCE decreased 0.5 percent in December, compared with
a decrease of 1.1 percent in November. The PCE price index, excluding food and energy, was
essentially unchanged in December and in November.
Revisions
Estimates have been revised for October and November. Changes in personal income, current-
dollar and chained (2000) dollar DPI, and current-dollar and chained (2000) dollar PCE for October
and November -- revised and as published in last month's release -- are shown below.
Change from preceding month
October November
Previous Revised Previous Revised Previous Revised Previous Revised
(Billions of dollars) (Percent) (Billions of dollars) (Percent)
Personal Income:
Current dollars...................... 11.3 -11.3 0.1 -0.1 -20.7 -44.0 -0.2 -0.4
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars...................... 16.7 -2.0 0.2 0.0 -11.8 -33.9 -0.1 -0.3
Chained (2000) dollars............... 61.2 47.0 0.7 0.5 88.1 70.7 1.0 0.8
Personal consumption expenditures:
Current dollars...................... -102.6 -116.2 -1.0 -1.1 -56.1 -77.8 -0.6 -0.8
Chained (2000) dollars............... -38.6 -48.7 -0.5 -0.6 45.6 28.5 0.6 0.3
This release also includes revised estimates of population, per capita disposable personal income (DPI),
and per capita real DPI. The revised population estimates reflect newly available estimates from the Census
Bureau for March 2000 through December 2008. BEA population estimates are a mid-month average of Census
Bureau data. The revised per capita estimates reflect the revisions to the population estimates. Estimates for the
complete revision period are available on BEA's Web site at
www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/SelectTable.asp?Selected=Y#S2.
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 2, 2009, at 8:30 A.M. EST for Personal Income and Outlays for January.
Release Dates for 2009
December 2008... February 2 April 2009.... June 1 August 2009......... October 1
January 2009....... March 2 May 2009..... June 26 September 2009... October 30
February 2009...... March 27 June 2009..... August 4 October 2009....... November 25
March 2009......... April 30 July 2009...... August 28 November 2009... December 23