This statistic shows the monthly percentage of change in disposable personal income in the United States from September 2017 to September 2018. Disposable personal income increased by 0.2 percent in September 2018 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 989.8 billion chained 2009 U.S. dollars to the GDP of the United States in 2016. Total Real GDP amounted to about 16.66 trillion U.S. dollars that year, meaning that the retail trade industry accounted for about 5.94 percent of GDP. The arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation and food services industry contributed 630.3 billion U.S. dollars to GDP in 2016.
Personal income in the United States was 16.01 trillion U.S. dollars in 2016, the highest value in over ten years. From July 2016 to July 2017, average daily consumer spending rose from 100 U.S. dollars in July 2016 to 109 U.S. dollars in July 2017.
