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EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EST, Monday, January 30, 2017

BEA 17-04

Personal Income and Outlays, December 2016

Personal income increased $50.2 billion (0.3 percent) in December according to estimates released today
by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Disposable personal income (DPI) increased $43.6 billion (0.3 percent)
and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $63.1 billion (0.5 percent).

Real DPI increased 0.1 percent in December and Real PCE increased 0.3 percent. The PCE price index increased
0.2 percent. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.1 percent.

2016
Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.
Percent change from preceding month
Personal income:
Current dollars 0.2 0.4 0.5 0.1 0.3
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars 0.2 0.3 0.5 0.1 0.3
Chained (2009) dollars 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.0 0.1
Personal consumption expenditures (PCE):
Current dollars 0.1 0.7 0.4 0.2 0.5
Chained (2009) dollars -0.1 0.5 0.1 0.2 0.3
Price indexes:
PCE 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.2
PCE, excluding food and energy 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.1
Price indexes:
Percent change from month one year ago
PCE 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.4 1.6
PCE, excluding food and energy 1.7 1.7 1.8 1.7 1.7

The increase in personal income in December primarily reflected increases in wages and salaries, personal
current transfer receipts, and rental income of persons (table 3).

The increase in real PCE in December primarily reflected increases in spending for both durable
goods and services (table 7).

Personal outlays increased $66.4 billion in December (table 3). Personal saving was $768.4 billion in
December and the personal saving rate, personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income,
was 5.4 percent (table 1).

2016 Personal Income and Outlays

Personal income (table 6) increased 3.5 percent in 2016 (that is, from the 2015 annual level to the
2016 annual level), compared with an increase of 4.4 percent in 2015. DPI increased 3.8 percent in 2016,
the same increase as in 2015. In 2016, PCE increased 3.8 percent, compared with an increase of 3.5 percent in 2015.

Real DPI increased 2.7 percent in 2016, compared with an increase of 3.5 percent in 2015. Real PCE (table 8)
increased 2.7 percent, compared with an increase of 3.2 percent.

Updates

Estimates have been updated for October and November. The percent change from the preceding month for
current-dollar personal income, and for current-dollar and chained (2009) dollar DPI and PCE
-- 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 78.0 76.6 0.5 0.5 1.6 9.2 0.0 0.1
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars 65.2 66.9 0.5 0.5 -1.3 9.3 0.0 0.1
Chained (2009) dollars 25.4 27.7 0.2 0.2 -6.4 1.7 -0.1 0.0
Personal consumption expenditures:
Current dollars 51.4 45.2 0.4 0.4 24.0 28.8 0.2 0.2
Chained (2009) dollars 16.0 11.1 0.1 0.1 16.8 19.8 0.1 0.2

Next release: March 1, 2017 at 8:30 A.M. EST
Personal Income and Outlays: January 2017

Full Release & Tables (PDF)

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Release Highlights (PDF)

Historical Comparison (PDF)

Interactive Tables

Personal Income

James Rankin

(301) 278-9087

piniwd@bea.gov

PCE

Harvey Davis

(301) 278-9086

pce@bea.gov

News Media

Jeannine Aversa

(301) 278-9003

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• Historical time series for these estimates can be accessed in BEA’s Interactive Data Application.
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• For more on BEA’s statistics, see our monthly online journal, the Survey of Current Business.
• BEA's news release schedule
• NIPA Handbook: Concepts and Methods of the U.S. National Income and Product Accounts

Definitions

Personal income is the income received by, or on behalf of, all persons from all sources: from
participation as laborers in production, from owning a home or business, from the ownership of
financial assets, and from government and business in the form of transfers. It includes income from
domestic sources as well as the rest of world. It does not include realized or unrealized capital gains or
losses.

Disposable personal income is the income available to persons for spending or saving. It is equal to
personal income less personal current taxes.

Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) is the value of the goods and services purchased by, or on the
behalf of, “persons” who reside in the United States.

Personal outlays is the sum of PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments.

Personal saving is personal income less personal outlays and personal current taxes.

The personal saving rate is personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income.

Current-dollar estimates are valued in the prices of the period when the transactions occurred—that is,
at “market value.” Also referred to as “nominal estimates” or as “current-price estimates.”

Real values are inflation-adjusted estimates—that is, estimates that exclude the effects of price changes.

For more definitions, see the Glossary: National Income and Product Accounts.

Statistical conventions

Annual rates. Monthly and quarterly values are expressed at seasonally-adjusted annual rates (SAAR).
Dollar changes are calculated as the difference between these SAAR values. For detail, see the FAQ
“Why does BEA publish estimates at annual rates?”

Month-to-month percent changes are calculated from unrounded data and are not annualized.

Quarter-to-quarter percent changes are calculated from unrounded data and are displayed at annual
rates. For detail, see the FAQ “How is average annual growth calculated?”

Quantities and prices. Quantities, or “real” volume measures, and prices are expressed as index
numbers with a specified reference year equal to 100 (currently 2009). Quantity and price indexes are
calculated using a Fisher-chained weighted formula that incorporates weights from two adjacent
periods (quarters for quarterly data and annuals for annual data). “Real” dollar series are calculated by
multiplying the published quantity index by the current dollar value in the reference year (2009) and
then dividing by 100. Percent changes calculated from real quantity indexes and chained-dollar levels
are conceptually the same; any differences are due to rounding.

Chained-dollar values are not additive because the relative weights for a given period differ from those
of the reference year.

List of Personal Income and Outlays News Release Tables

Table 1. Personal Income and Its Disposition (Months)
Table 2. Personal Income and Its Disposition (Years and Quarters)
Table 3. Personal Income and Its Disposition, Change From Preceding Period (Months)
Table 4. Personal Income and Its Disposition, Change From Preceding Period (Years and Quarters)
Table 5. Personal Income and Its Disposition, Percent Change From Preceding Period (Months)
Table 6. Personal Income and Its Disposition, Percent Change From Preceding Period (Years and
Quarters)
Table 7. Real Personal Consumption Expenditures by Major Type of Product (Months)
Table 8. Real Personal Consumption Expenditures by Major Type of Product (Years and Quarters)
Table 9. Price Indexes for Personal Consumption Expenditures: Level and Percent Change From
Preceding Period (Months)
Table 10. Real Disposable Personal Income and Real Personal Consumption Expenditures: Percent
Change From Month One Year Ago
Table 11. Price Indexes for Personal Consumption Expenditures: Percent Change From Month One
Year Ago