Personal Income and Outlays: February 2020

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 $106.8 billion (0.6 percent) in February according to estimates released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (table 3 and table 5). Disposable personal income (DPI) increased $88.7 billion (0.5 percent) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $27.7 billion (0.2 percent).

Real DPI inincreased 0.4 percent in February and Real PCE increased 0.1 percent (table 5 and table 7). The PCE price index increased 0.1 percent. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.2 percent (table 9).

The increase in personal income in February primarily reflected increases in compensation of employees and farm proprietors’ income (table 3). Farm proprietors’ income increased $34.1 billion in February, which included an increase in subsidy payments associated with the Department of Agriculture’s Market Facilitation Program.

The $13.0 billion increase in real PCE in February reflected a $18.3 billion increase in spending for services that was partly offset by a decrease of $7.7 billion in spending for goods (table 7). Within services, the leading contributor to the increase was spending on electricity and gas. Within goods, the leading contributors to the decrease were spending on motor vehicles and parts as well as recreational goods and vehicles. Detailed information on monthly real PCE spending can be found on Table 2.3.6U.

Personal outlays increased $28.4 billion in February (table 3). Personal saving was $1.38 trillion and the personal saving rate, personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income, was 8.2 percent (table 1).

Updates to Personal Income and Outlays

Estimates have been updated for October through January. Revised and previously published changes from the preceding month for current-dollar personal income, and for current-dollar and chained (2012) dollar DPI and PCE, are shown below.