News Release

EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EST, MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 2012
BEA 12-03

Personal Income and Outlays, December 2011

                
                
Personal income increased $61.3 billion, or 0.5 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI)
increased $47.1 billion, or 0.4 percent, in December, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) decreased $2.0 billion, or less than 0.1 percent.  In November,
personal income increased $7.4 billion, or 0.1 percent, DPI decreased $4.1 billion, or less than 0.1
percent, and PCE increased $11.4 billion, or 0.1 percent, based on revised estimates.

Real disposable income increased 0.3 percent in December, in contrast to a decrease of less than
0.1 percent in November.  Real PCE decreased 0.1 percent, in contrast to an increase of 0.1 percent.

                                        2011
                                        Aug.            Sept.           Oct.            Nov.            Dec.
                                                       (Percent change from preceding month)
Personal income, current dollars       -0.1             0.2             0.4             0.1             0.5
Disposable personal income:
 Current dollars                       -0.1             0.1             0.2             0.0             0.4
 Chained (2005) dollars                -0.4            -0.1             0.3             0.0             0.3
Personal consumption expenditures:
 Current dollars                        0.1             0.7             0.1             0.1             0.0
 Chained (2005) dollars                -0.1             0.5             0.1             0.1            -0.1

                                Wages and salaries

Private wage and salary disbursements increased $29.1 billion in December, in contrast to a decrease
of $1.4 billion in November.  Goods-producing industries' payrolls increased $10.8 billion, in contrast
to a decrease of $6.5 billion; manufacturing payrolls increased $7.4 billion, in contrast to a decrease
of $6.2 billion.  Services-producing industries' payrolls increased $18.3 billion, compared with an increase
of $5.1 billion.  Government wage and salary disbursements increased $0.4 billion in December; government
wages and salaries were unchanged in November.

                                Other personal income

Supplements to wages and salaries increased $3.6 billion in December, compared with an increase of $1.6 billion in November.

Proprietors' income increased $1.1 billion in December, in contrast to a decrease of $1.2 billion in November.
Farm proprietors' income decreased $4.7 billion in December, the same decrease as in November.   Nonfarm
proprietors' income increased $5.8 billion in December, compared with an increase of $3.5 billion in November.

Rental income of persons increased $8.2 billion in December, compared with an increase of $8.6 billion in November.
Personal income receipts on assets (personal interest income plus personal dividend income) increased $9.3 billion,
in contrast to a decrease of $0.6 billion.

Personal current transfer receipts increased $13.2 billion in December, compared with an increase of $0.4 billion
in November.  Within personal current transfer receipts, government social benefits to persons were boosted in
December by retroactive social security benefit payments of $7.1 billion at an annual rate, resulting from a
recalculation of the earnings base underlying the benefits of recent retirees.

Contributions for government social insurance -- a subtraction in calculating personal income --  increased
$3.7 billion in December; contributions for government social insurance were unchanged in November.

                                Personal current taxes and disposable personal income

Personal current taxes increased $14.1 billion in December, compared with an increase of $11.5 billion in November.
Disposable personal income -- personal income less personal current taxes -- increased $47.1 billion, or
0.4 percent, in December, in contrast to a decrease of $4.1 billion, or less than 0.1 percent in November.

                                Personal outlays and personal saving

Personal outlays -- PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments -- decreased
$5.2 billion inDecember, in contrast to an increase of $8.2 billion in November.  PCE decreased
$2.0 billion, in contrast to an increase of $11.4 billion.

Personal saving -- DPI less personal outlays -- was $460.1 billion in December, compared with $407.8 billion
in November.  The personal saving rate -- personal saving as a percentage of disposable income -- was 4.0 percent
in December, compared with 3.5 percent in November. 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 price index

Real DPI -- DPI adjusted to remove price changes -- increased 0.3 percent in December, in contrast to decrease
of less than 0.1 percent in November.

Real PCE -- PCE adjusted to remove price changes -- decreased 0.1 percent in December, in contrast to an increase
of 0.1 percent in November.  Purchases of durable goods decreased 0.1 percent, in contrast to an increase of 0.7 percent.
Purchases of nondurable goods decreased 0.1 percent, the same decrease as in November.  Purchases of services decreased
0.1 percent in December, in contrast to an increase of 0.1 percent in November.

PCE price index -- The price index for PCE increased 0.1 percent in December, in contrast to a decrease of less than 0.1 percent in
November.  The PCE price index, excluding food and energy, increased 0.2 percent, compared with an increase of 0.1 percent.

                                2011 Personal Income and Outlays

Personal income increased 4.7 percent in 2011 (that is, from the 2010 annual level to the 2011 annual level), compared
with an increase of 3.7 percent in 2010.  DPI increased 3.4 percent, compared with an increase of 3.6 percent.  PCE
increased 4.7 percent, compared with an increase of 3.8 percent.

Real DPI increased 0.9 percent in 2011, compared with an increase of 1.8 percent in 2010.  Real PCE increased
2.2 percent, compared with an increase of 2.0 percent.

                                Revisions

Estimates have been revised for October and November.  Changes in personal income, current-dollar and
chained (2005) dollar DPI, and current-dollar and chained (2005) 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                            47.2      46.7        0.4       0.4        8.5       7.4        0.1       0.1
Disposable personal income:
 Current dollars                            27.2      24.4        0.2       0.2       -5.0      -4.1        0.0       0.0
 Chained (2005) dollars                     29.4      26.0        0.3       0.3       -0.6      -3.1        0.0       0.0
Personal consumption expenditures:
 Current dollars                            11.3      10.5        0.1       0.1       13.1      11.4        0.1       0.1
 Chained (2005) dollars                     15.2      13.6        0.2       0.1       15.1      10.4        0.2       0.1

This release 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 April 2000 through December 2011.
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  /iTable/index_nipa.cfm.

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 - March 1, 2012 at 8:30 A.M. EST for Personal Income and Outlays for January

Release Dates for 2012

December 2011...January 30            April 2012...June 1                August 2012.....September 28
January 2012....March 1               May 2012.....June 29               September 2012..October 29
February 2012...March 30              June 2012....July 31               October 2012....November 30
March 2012......April 30              July 2012....August 30             November 2012...December 21
________________________
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.