News Release
These data have been superseded. Please see our latest releases for current estimates and contact information.
Personal Income and Outlays, January 2015
Personal income increased $50.8 billion, or 0.3 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI) increased
$52.6 billion, or 0.4 percent, in January, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal
consumption expenditures (PCE) decreased $18.9 billion, or 0.2 percent. In December, personal income
increased $45.3 billion, or 0.3 percent, DPI increased $37.3 billion, or 0.3 percent, and PCE decreased
$35.7 billion, or 0.3 percent, based on revised estimates.
Real DPI increased 0.9 percent in January, compared with an increase of 0.5 percent in December.
Real PCE increased 0.3 percent, in contrast to a decrease of 0.1 percent. The price index for PCE
decreased 0.5 percent, compared with a decrease of 0.2 percent.
2014 2015
Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan.
(Percent change from preceding month)
Personal income, current dollars 0.2 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.3
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars 0.1 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.4
Chained (2009) dollars 0.1 0.3 0.5 0.5 0.9
Personal consumption expenditures:
Current dollars 0.2 0.4 0.4 -0.3 -0.2
Chained (2009) dollars 0.2 0.3 0.6 -0.1 0.3
BOX.______________
This news release presents revised estimates of wages and salaries, personal taxes, and contributions for
government social insurance for July through September 2014 (third quarter). These estimates reflect the
incorporation of the most recently available third-quarter wage and salary tabulations from the Quarterly
Census of Employment and Wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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FOOTNOTE._________
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 (2009) dollars.
This news release is available on BEA’s Web site at www.bea.gov/newsreleases/rels.htm.
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Compensation
Wages and salaries increased $42.4 billion in January, compared with an increase of $8.6 billion in December.
Private wages and salaries increased $39.7 billion, compared with an increase of $7.2 billion. Government
wages and salaries increased $2.5 billion, compared with an increase of $1.5 billion. Pay raises for federal
civilian and military personnel added $2.2 billion to government payrolls in January.
Employer contributions for employee pension and insurance funds increased $3.9 billion in January, compared
with an increase of $3.0 billion in December.
Employer contributions for government social insurance increased $4.1 billion in January, compared with
$0.5 billion in December. The January estimate reflected an increase in the social security taxable wage
base (from $117,000 to $118,500), an increase in the tax rate paid by employers to state unemployment insurance,
and a decrease in employer contributions for federal unemployment tax; together, these changes added $1.2
billion to January.
Other personal income
Proprietors' income decreased $12.8 billion in January, in contrast to an increase of $13.5 billion in December.
Farm proprietors' income decreased $10.0 billion, in contrast to an increase of $3.8 billion. Nonfarm proprietors'
income decreased $2.8 billion, in contrast to an increase of $9.7 billion.
Rental income of persons increased $1.7 billion in January, compared with an increase of $4.8 billion in December.
Personal income receipts on assets (personal interest income plus personal dividend income) decreased $5.2 billion,
in contrast to an increase of $2.1 billion.
Personal current transfer receipts increased $24.8 billion in January, compared with an increase of $13.8 billion
in December. The January estimates of current transfer receipts reflected several special factors. A 1.7-percent
cost-of-living adjustment to social security benefits and to several other federal transfer payment programs added
$16.7 billion to the January increase. Other government social benefits to persons was boosted $5.3 billion, primarily
reflecting health insurance premium subsidies paid in the form of tax credits to enrollees of the Affordable Care Act
exchanges. For additional information, see the FAQ on “How will the Affordable Care Act affect BEA’s measure of
personal income and outlays?” at www.bea.gov. These increases in current transfer receipts were partly offset by a
reduction in the lump-sum social security benefit payments that had boosted December personal income $8.8 billion.
Contributions for government social insurance -- a subtraction in calculating personal income -- increased $7.9 billion
in January, compared with an increase of $1.0 billion in December. The January estimate reflected increases in both
employer and employee contributions for government social insurance. The January estimate of employee contributions
for government social insurance reflected an increase in the social security taxable wage base and in the monthly
premiums paid by participants in the supplementary medical insurance programs; together, these changes added $1.4
billion to January.
Personal current taxes and disposable personal income
Personal current taxes decreased $1.8 billion in January, in contrast to an increase of $8.0 billion in December.
Payments of final settlements and back taxes less refunds in federal nonwithheld income taxes reduced the January
change by $5.8 billion, based on projections from the Office of Tax Analysis.
Disposable personal income (DPI) -- personal income less personal current taxes -- increased $52.6 billion, or 0.4 percent,
in January, compared with an increase of $37.3 billion, or 0.3 percent, in December.
Excluding the special factors discussed above, disposable personal income increased $32.8 billion, or 0.2 percent, in
January, compared with an increase of $28.5 billion, or 0.2 percent, in December.
Personal outlays and personal saving
Personal outlays -- PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments -- decreased $16.3 billion in
January, compared with a decrease of $35.3 billion in December. PCE decreased $18.9 billion, compared with a decrease
of $35.7 billion.
Personal saving -- DPI less personal outlays -- was $728.5 billion in January, compared with $659.6 billion in December.
The personal saving rate -- personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income -- was 5.5 percent in January,
compared with 5.0 percent in December. For a comparison of personal saving in BEA's national income and product accounts
with personal saving in the Federal Reserve Board's financial accounts of the United States and data on changes in net
worth, go to www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/nipa-frb.asp.
Real DPI, real PCE, and price index
Real DPI -- DPI adjusted to remove price changes -- increased 0.9 percent in January, compared with an increase of 0.5
percent in December.
Real PCE -- PCE adjusted to remove price changes -- increased 0.3 percent in January, in contrast to a decrease of 0.1
percent in December. Purchases of durable goods increased 0.2 percent, in contrast to a decrease of 1.0 percent.
Purchases of nondurable goods increased 0.2 percent in January, in contrast to a decrease of 0.2 percent in December.
Purchases of services increased 0.4 percent, compared with an increase of 0.1 percent.
The price index for PCE decreased 0.5 percent in January, compared with a decrease of 0.2 percent in December. The PCE
price index, excluding food and energy, increased 0.1 percent, compared with an increase of less than 0.1 percent.
The January price index for PCE increased 0.2 percent from January a year ago. The January PCE price index, excluding
food and energy, increased 1.3 percent from January a year ago.
2014 Personal Income and Outlays
Personal income increased 4.0 percent in 2014 (that is, from the 2013 annual level to the 2014 annual level), compared
with an increase of 2.0 percent in 2013. DPI increased 3.9 percent, compared with an increase of 1.0 percent. PCE
increased 3.9 percent, compared with an increase of 3.6 percent.
Real DPI increased 2.5 percent in 2014, in contrast to a decrease of 0.2 percent in 2013. Real PCE increased 2.5 percent,
compared with an increase of 2.4 percent.
Revisions
Estimates of personal income and DPI have been revised for July through December; estimates for PCE have been revised for
October through December. Changes in personal income, in current-dollar and chained (2009) dollar DPI, and in
current-dollar and chained (2009) dollar PCE for November and December -- revised and as published in last month's
release -- are shown below.
Estimates of wages and salaries were revised from July through December. The revision to third-quarter wages and salaries
reflected the incorporation of the most recently available Bureau of Labor Statistics tabulations of the third-quarter wages
and salaries from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. Revised estimates for October, November, and December reflect
extrapolations from the revised third-quarter level of wages. In addition, revisions to October, November, and December
reflect revised BLS employment, hours, and earnings data.
Change from preceding month
November December
Previous Revised Previous Revised Previous Revised Previous Revised
(Billions of dollars) (Percent) (Billions of dollars) (Percent)
Personal income:
Current dollars 47.2 62.6 0.3 0.4 41.3 45.3 0.3 0.3
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars 34.2 44.2 0.3 0.3 35.8 37.3 0.3 0.3
Chained (2009) dollars 51.2 59.9 0.4 0.5 61.2 62.1 0.5 0.5
Personal consumption expenditures:
Current dollars 58.8 52.1 0.5 0.4 -40.0 -35.7 -0.3 -0.3
Chained (2009) dollars 72.3 65.8 0.7 0.6 -10.8 -7.3 -0.1 -0.1
BOX.______________
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 March 2010 through December 2014.
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/iTable/index_nipa.cfm.
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BEA's national, international, regional, and industry estimates; BEA news releases; and related articles in the Survey of Current Business
are available for free on BEA's Web site at www.bea.gov. The entire historical time series for these estimates can be accessed in BEA's
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BEA's news release schedule is available at www.bea.gov/newsreleases/2015rd.htm.
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Next release – March 30, 2015 at 8:30 A.M. EDT for Personal Income and Outlays for February