News Release
These data have been superseded. Please see our latest releases for current estimates and contact information.
Personal Income and Outlays, March 2015
Personal income increased $6.2 billion, or less than 0.1 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI)
increased $1.6 billion, or less than 0.1 percent, in March, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $53.4 billion, or 0.4 percent. In February, personal
income increased $66.4 billion, or 0.4 percent, DPI increased $61.2 billion, or 0.5 percent, and PCE
increased $20.8 billion, or 0.2 percent, based on revised estimates.
Real DPI decreased 0.2 percent in March, in contrast to an increase of 0.3 percent in February.
Real PCE increased 0.3 percent, in contrast to a decrease of less than 0.1 percent.
2014 2015
Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar.
(Percent change from preceding month)
Personal income, current dollars 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.0
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.0
Chained (2009) dollars 0.5 0.5 0.8 0.3 -0.2
Personal consumption expenditures:
Current dollars 0.4 -0.2 -0.3 0.2 0.4
Chained (2009) dollars 0.5 0.1 0.2 0.0 0.3
FOOTNOTE._________
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 $16.3 billion in March, compared with an increase of $24.2 billion in February.
Private wages and salaries increased $15.2 billion, compared with an increase of $22.6 billion. Government
wages and salaries increased $1.0 billion, compared with an increase of $1.7 billion.
Supplements to wages and salaries increased $4.2 billion in March, compared with an increase of $5.1 billion in February.
Other personal income
Proprietors' income decreased $1.5 billion in March, compared with a decrease of $7.7 billion in February.
Farm proprietors' income decreased $7.7 billion, compared with a decrease of $7.6 billion. Nonfarm proprietors'
income increased $6.1 billion in March; nonfarm proprietors' income was unchanged in February.
Rental income of persons increased $3.2 billion in March, compared with an increase of $2.6 billion in February.
Personal income receipts on assets (personal interest income plus personal dividend income) decreased $33.1 billion,
in contrast to an increase of $29.7 billion. Personal current transfer receipts increased $18.8 billion, compared
with an increase of $15.6 billion.
Contributions for government social insurance -- a subtraction in calculating personal income -- increased $1.8 billion
in March, compared with an increase of $3.0 billion in February.
Personal current taxes and disposable personal income
Personal current taxes increased $4.6 billion in March, compared with an increase of $5.1 billion in February.
Disposable personal income (DPI) -- personal income less personal current taxes -- increased $1.6 billion, or
less than 0.1 percent, in March, compared with an increase of $61.2 billion, or 0.5 percent, in February.
Personal outlays and personal saving
Personal outlays -- PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments -- increased $57.6 billion
in March, compared with an increase of $24.9 billion in February. PCE increased $53.4 billion, compared with an increase
of $20.8 billion.
Personal saving -- DPI less personal outlays -- was $702.6 billion in March, compared with $758.6 billion in February.
The personal saving rate -- personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income -- was 5.3 percent in March,
compared with 5.7 percent in February. 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 -- decreased 0.2 percent in March, in contrast to an increase of 0.3 percent in February.
Real PCE -- PCE adjusted to remove price changes -- increased 0.3 percent in March, in contrast to a decrease of less
than 0.1 percent in February. Purchases of durable goods increased 2.0 percent, in contrast to a decrease of 1.1 percent.
Purchases of motor vehicles and parts accounted for most of the increase in March and for most of the decrease in February.
Purchases of nondurable goods increased 0.2 percent in March, in contrast to a decrease of 0.1 percent in February.
Purchases of services increased less than 0.1 percent, compared with an increase of 0.2 percent.
The price index for PCE increased 0.2 percent in March, the same increase as in February. The PCE price index, excluding food and energy,
increased 0.1 percent in March, the same increase as in February.
The March price index for PCE increased 0.3 percent from March a year ago. The March PCE price index, excluding food and energy,
increased 1.3 percent from March a year ago.
Revisions
Estimates have been revised for January and February. Changes in personal income, in current-dollar and chained (2009) dollar
DPI, and in current-dollar and chained (2009) dollar PCE for January and February -- revised and as published in last month's
release -- are shown below.
Change from preceding month
January February
Previous Revised Previous Revised Previous Revised Previous Revised
(Billions of dollars) (Percent) (Billions of dollars) (Percent)
Personal income:
Current dollars 61.8 49.9 0.4 0.3 58.6 66.4 0.4 0.4
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars 61.5 50.5 0.5 0.4 54.2 61.2 0.4 0.5
Chained (2009) dollars 109.8 102.9 0.9 0.8 29.0 35.2 0.2 0.3
Personal consumption expenditures:
Current dollars -28.5 -35.7 -0.2 -0.3 11.8 20.8 0.1 0.2
Chained (2009) dollars 22.3 18.7 0.2 0.2 -8.2 -0.2 -0.1 0.0
BOX._____________
Upcoming Annual Revision of the National Income and Product Accounts
As part of the annual revision of the national income and product accounts (NIPAs), revised estimates of personal
income and outlays will be released in conjunction with preliminary estimates for June 2015 on August 3, 2015.
In addition to the regular revision of estimates for the most recent 3 years and for the first 5 months of 2015,
personal income and select components will be revised back further (for more information, see the GDP Technical Note).
The June Survey of Current Business will contain an article that previews the annual revision and the August Survey
will contain an article that describes the results.
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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 Interactive Data Application at www.bea.gov/itable/. Stay informed about BEA developments
by signing up for our email subscription service or following us on Twitter @BEA_News. You also can access BEA data by
registering for our Data Application Programming Interface, or API. (www.bea.gov/API/signup/index.cfm).
BEA's news release schedule is available at www.bea.gov/newsreleases/2015rd.htm.
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Next release – June 1, 2015 at 8:30 A.M. EDT for Personal Income and Outlays for April