Personal Income and Outlays, April 2015

Historical release narrative reproduced from the official public-domain U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis source. Statistical tables, charts, standard technical appendices and administrative material are omitted; formatting is adapted for reading. Figures retain the release's original vintage and may have been revised. Consult the linked source for the complete release and current data.

Personal income increased $59.4 billion, or 0.4 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI) increased $48.8 billion, or 0.4 percent, in April, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) decreased $2.6 billion, or less than 0.1 percent. In March, personal income increased $4.0 billion, or less than 0.1 percent, DPI increased $0.5 billion, or less than 0.1 percent, and PCE increased $65.6 billion, or 0.5 percent, based on revised estimates.

Real DPI increased 0.3 percent in April, in contrast to a decrease of 0.2 percent in March. Real PCE decreased less than 0.1 percent, in contrast to an increase of 0.4 percent.

This news release presents revised estimates of wages and salaries, personal taxes, and contributions for government social insurance for October through December 2014 (fourth quarter). These estimates reflect the incorporation of the most recently available fourth-quarter wage and salary tabulations from the quarterly census of employment and wages (QCEW) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

__________________ 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.

Compensation

Wages and salaries increased $17.7 billion in April, compared with an increase of $9.5 billion in March. Private wages and salaries increased $15.7 billion, compared with an increase of $8.4 billion. Government wages and salaries increased $2.0 billion, compared with an increase of $1.0 billion.

Supplements to wages and salaries increased $4.3 billion in April, compared with an increase of $3.8 billion in March.

Other personal income

Proprietors' income increased $2.5 billion in April, in contrast to a decrease of $0.5 billion in March. Farm proprietors' income increased $2.9 billion, in contrast to a decrease of $8.0 billion. Nonfarm proprietors' income decreased $0.4 billion, in contrast to an increase of $7.5 billion.

Rental income of persons increased $3.9 billion in April, compared with an increase of $3.3 billion in March. Personal income receipts on assets (personal interest income plus personal dividend income) increased $26.6 billion, in contrast to a decrease of $30.9 billion. Personal current transfer receipts increased $6.5 billion, compared with an increase of $19.7 billion.

Contributions for government social insurance -- a subtraction in calculating personal income -- increased $2.2 billion in April, compared with an increase of $0.8 billion in March.

Personal current taxes and disposable personal income

Personal current taxes increased $10.6 billion in April, compared with an increase of $3.4 billion in March. Disposable personal income (DPI) -- personal income less personal current taxes -- increased $48.8 billion, or 0.4 percent, in April, compared with an increase of $0.5 billion, or less than 0.1 percent, in March.

Personal outlays and personal saving

Personal outlays -- PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments -- decreased $2.7 billion in April, in contrast to an increase of $69.9 billion in March. PCE decreased $2.6 billion, in contrast to an increase of $65.6 billion.

Personal saving -- DPI less personal outlays -- was $744.0 billion in April, compared with $692.5 billion in March. The personal saving rate -- personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income -- was 5.6 percent in April, compared with 5.2 percent in March. 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 0.3 percent in April, in contrast to a decrease of 0.2 percent in March.

Real PCE -- PCE adjusted to remove price changes -- decreased less than 0.1 percent in April, in contrast to an increase of 0.4 percent in March. Purchases of durable goods decreased 0.8 percent, in contrast to an increase of 2.1 percent. Purchases of motor vehicles and parts accounted for most of the decrease in April, and for about half of the increase in March. Purchases of nondurable goods decreased 0.1 percent in April, in contrast to an increase of 0.4 percent in March. Purchases of services increased 0.1 percent in April, the same increase as in March.

The price index for PCE increased less than 0.1 percent in April, compared with an increase of 0.2 percent in March. The PCE price index, excluding food and energy, increased 0.1 percent in April, the same increase as in March.

The April price index for PCE increased 0.1 percent from April a year ago. The April PCE price index, excluding food and energy, increased 1.2 percent from April a year ago.

Revisions

Estimates for personal income and DPI have been revised for October through March; estimates for PCE have been revised for January through March. Changes in personal income, in current-dollar and chained (2009) dollar DPI, and in current-dollar and chained (2009) dollar PCE for February and March -- revised and as published in last month's release -- are shown below.

Estimates of wages and salaries were revised from October through March. The revision to fourth-quarter wages and salaries reflected the incorporation of the most recently available BLS tabulations of fourth-quarter wages and salaries from the QCEW. Revised estimates for January, February, and March reflect extrapolations from the

revised fourth-quarter level of wages. In addition, revisions to February and March reflect revised BLS employment, hours, and earnings data for those months.

Upcoming Annual Revision of the National Income and Product Accounts

As part of the annual revision of the national income and product accounts, 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. 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.