About This Statistic
This statistic shows the monthly percentage of change in disposable personal income in the United States from April 2016 to April 2017. Disposable personal income increased by 0.4 percent in April 2017 from the preceding previous month. The data are in current U.S. dollars, seasonally adjusted at annual rates.
Disposable personal income in the United States
According to the BEA, personal income is the income that is received by persons from all sources. It is calculated as the sum of wage and salary disbursements, supplements to wages and salaries, proprietors' income with inventory valuation and capital consumption adjustments, rental income of persons with capital consumption adjustment, personal dividend income, personal interest income, and personal current transfer receipts, less contributions for government social insurance. Disposable personal income is total after-tax income received by persons; it is the income available to persons for spending or saving.
Disposable personal income is a significant indicator of an economy’s health. Personal income determines an individual’s ability to consume goods and services, i.e. personal consumption expenditure, and industries producing consumer goods and services contribute heavily to United States gross domestic product. The retail trade industry, for example, contributed 902.4 billion chained 2009 U.S. dollars to the GDP of the United States in 2013. Total Real GDP amounted to about 13.58 trillion U.S. dollars that year, meaning that the retail trade industry accounted for about 6.6 percent of GDP. The arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation and food services industry contributed 591.9 billion U.S. dollars to GDP in 2013.
Personal income in the United States was 14.17 trillion U.S. dollars in 2013, the highest value in over ten years. From October 2013 to October 2014, average daily consumer spending rose
from 88 U.S. dollars in October 2013 to only 89 U.S. dollars in October 2014. The monthly percentage of change in personal consumption expenditure (PCE) was mostly positive from August 2013 to August 2014, with highest growth in March 2014, when PCE rose by 0.8 percent. These are positive indicators for the U.S. economy.
