Personal Income and Outlays: March 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 decreased $382.1 billion (2.0 percent) in March according to estimates released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (tables 3 and 5). Disposable personal income (DPI) decreased $334.6 billion (2.0 percent) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) decreased $1,127.3 billion (7.5 percent).

Real DPI decreased 1.7 percent in March and Real PCE decreased 7.3 percent (tables 5 and 7). The PCE price index decreased 0.3 percent. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index decreased 0.1 percent (table 9).

The decrease in personal income in March primarily reflected a decrease in compensation (table 3). The estimate of private wages and salaries was primarily based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly Current Employment Statistics report as well as unemployment insurance claims data from the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration. For more information, see “How did BEA adjust March 2020 wages and salaries to account for the effects of COVID-19?”.

The decrease in real PCE in March reflected a decrease of $829.9 billion in spending for services and a $104.9 billion in spending for goods (table 7). Within services, the leading contributor to the decrease was spending on health care, including physician, dental, and paramedical services. Other contributors to the decrease in services were spending on food services and accommodations as well as recreation services. Within goods, the leading contributor to the decrease was spending on motor vehicles and parts. Partially offsetting the decreases in many categories of spending on goods was an increase in spending for food and beverages purchased for off-premises consumption. Detailed information on monthly real PCE spending can be found on Table 2.3.6U.

Personal outlays decreased $1.16 trillion in March (table 3). Personal saving was $2.17 trillion in March and the personal saving rate, personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income, was 13.1 percent (table 1).

BEA will release results from the 2020 annual update of the National Income and Product Accounts on July 30, 2020, in conjunction with the advance estimate of GDP for the second quarter of 2020. For more information, see the GDP Technical Note.

Updates to Personal Income and Outlays

Estimates have been updated for January and February. 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.