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U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Office of Business Economics Advance Release for Wednesday A„M. February 15, 1950 OBE 331 Personal income in December was at an annual rate of #211.5 billion, about #2 billion higher than in the previous month, the Office of Business Economics, U. S. Department of Commerce, announced today. For the full year 1949, personal income totaled #210 billion, only slightly below the 1948 record of $212 billion. The November-December rise in personal income stemmed from increased wage disbursements in durable-goods manufacturing industries and larger corporate dividend payments. The rise was limited by a decline in proprietors1 income. A large dividend payment by one automobile manufacturing corporation was responsible for the substantial December rise in aggregate dividend disbursements. Personal income estimates include wage and salary receipts, the net incomes of proprietorships and partnerships (farm and nonfarm), dividends and interest, net rents received by landlords, and other types of individual income. Annual rates, which facilitate comparison with previous annual totals, represent the seasonally adjusted dollar totals for each month multiplied b y 12. The rise of wages in durable-goods manufacturing in December primarily reflected the resumption of full-time entployment in steel mills after the end of the labor-management dispute in mid-November, together with an easing of the steel supply situation in metal-fabricating and automobile plants. Factory wages in the durable-goods industries in December were as large as in September, the month preceding the steel labor-management dispute. Nondurable-goods factory wages were stable from November to December. With the exception of coal mining, where a shorter work week prevailed, pay rolls in nonmanufacturing industries were virtually unchanged from November. Farm proprietors’ income was reduced in December as receipts from crop and livestock marketings declined more than seasonally. Nonfarm proprietors1 income also declined from November. The Year as a Whole. The principal change in the flow of personal income from 1948 to 1949 occurred in agricultural income, which declined from #23.1 bil lion to #18.4 billion, mainly as a consequence of lower prices. Nonagricultural income— a measure of the income received by persons from nonfarm sources— increased from #188.8 billion to #191.4 billion. A — 10429 - 2 The marked stability of nonagrieultural income was an important.feature of the income flow in 1949. This sector, which comprised 90 percent of total per sonal income in 1948, varied on a monthly basis within a range of less than 1 percent during the January-November period of last year. In December nonagrieul tural income advanced to a new high rate of $>194 billion, 2 percent above the #190 billion rate in the low months of the year. Within the nonagrieultural sector, a drop of #2.4 billion in factory pay rolls during 1949 was more than offset by increases in other components. These included pay rolls in most other private industries, Federal and State and local government pay rolls, dividends and interest, and transfer payments (including unemployment insurance benefits, which expanded from $1.3 billion to #2.3 billion) Nonfarm proprietors' and rental income was virtually unchanged from 1948 to 1949. Most of the decline in personal income in 1949 occurred in the first quarter of the year, so that by March, at an annual rate of #210 billion, it was $7 bil lion below the December 1948 high. In the last 9 months of 1949 the annual rate of personal Income averaged #209 billion, with the monthly fluctuations during this period resulting in large measure from irregular movements in agricultural income, as well as the effects of labor-management disputes. The following table presents estimates of personal income for October, Novem-rber, December, and the full years 1948 and 1949. Revised monthly data for the January-September period of 1949 will appear in the statistical section of the Department's February issue of the Survey of Current Business, scheduled for re lease on February 21. — 10429 i Monthly Personal Income in the United States (Seasonally adjusted annual rates in b a l l o ns of dollars) -10429 Total personal income.,. o » ©c o a e ©a o o o o o o e e o Wage and salary receipts o »«o »s o o c a i »o o c o c Total employer disbursements.... *. o c o « o o o Commodity-produeing industries!/ a » o e ©* © Distributive industries!/»...... 90S © © O Q O300 0 Service industries!/ ©« ©© © o « o o o o o 6 Government.,>9 o * o o ©o « o o o " # o c « > c e > ! Less employee contributions for social insurance O O C O O O O O O O B 0 9 0 0 9 9 0 0 0 0 9 0 0 Other labor income.. 0 0 0 0 9 9 C O C O t O O C O O O O O O Q O O O Proprietors* and rental income.. ©9OC0O < r Personal interest income and dividends 09 0 0 9 O Transfer payments2/ ©99000C900 211. 5 134, X 136, 3 57. 4 39, 6 17. 4 21. 9 Total nonagri cultural incomes/., Total agricultural income....... 194. 1 17. 4 lOCOCO©©©©© eoooooooeo 2, 2 2, 2 43, ** 19, 1 12. 7 209.4 2ÖT.0 2X7,0 132,5 -133,7 137.1 134 =7 13419 ¡139.4 56.0 5515 , 62.3 40 .b 39.5 40.0 16 ..9 17.4 17 t e 2i.b 21.8 20 =2 2,2 2.2 44,9 17,4 12.4 191,3 18.1 216,6 137,5 139.7 62,7 39 o8 16,9 20,3 2lfe.3 13*. 1 i4q. 3 62L 7 401 4 161 9 20 J3 209.8 133,5 135,7 57.3 40,2 17.2 21,0 211,9 133,1 135.2 60.4 39.2 16,6 19.1 2.3 2,0 50,3 16.9 10,7 2,2 2.0 49.8 16.9 10-4 2. 2 2. ) 49, ) 16. k 10. 2.2 2.1 44.8 iv, 2.1 2,0 49.5 16,2 11.1 190.3 193.6 16.7 1 23,4 192.8 23.8 192, 91 23. 41 191.4 18,4 *•*oÆ A tC 2 o11 4 2.4 17. a 12. d \ 12:5 188.8 23.1 u> s 1/ "Commodity-producing industries” consists of agriculture, forest t j and fisheries, mining, contract construction, and manufacturing. "Distributive industries” consists3 of wholesale and retail trade, transportation, and communications and public utilities. "Service industries” comprise^finance, in surance, and real estate and services. 2/ Consists mainly of payments to vet er ans. and unemployment insurance and other social insurance pay ments . 1 3/ Equals personal income exclusive of net income of unincorporated farm enterprises, farm wages, agri cultural net rents, agricultural net interest, and net dividends paid by agricultural corporations.
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