View original document

The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.

Friday, April 29, 2022
Contact: Jeannine Aversa, (301) 278-9003

Personal Income and Outlays, March 2022
Personal income increased $107.2 billion, or 0.5 percent at a monthly rate, while consumer spending
increased $185.0 billion, or 1.1 percent, in March. The increase in personal income primarily reflected an
increase in compensation. The personal saving rate (that is, personal saving as a percentage of disposable
personal income) was 6.2 percent in March, compared with 6.8 percent in February.

Personal income
In March, personal income increased, primarily reflecting increases in compensation, proprietors’ income,
personal income receipts on assets, and government social benefits.
• Within compensation, the increase primarily reflected an increase in private wages and salaries, based
on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Current Employment Statistics. Wages and salaries of
services-producing industries increased $48.8 billion, while wages and salaries of goods-producing
industries increased $10.8 billion.
• Within proprietors’ income, farm proprietors’ income increased, primarily reflecting increased crop and
livestock prices.
• Within income receipts on assets, interest income increased $9.1 billion while dividend income
increased $2.6 billion.
• The increase in government social benefits primarily reflected increases in Medicare and Medicaid.
Federal pandemic-related assistance programs continued to wind down. Additional information on
BEA data—including GDP, personal income, the balance of payments, foreign direct investment, the input -output accounts, and
regional economic data—are available at www.bea.gov. E-mail alerts are also available. Estimates of April 2022 Personal
Income and Outlays will be released on May 27, 2022.

special factors affecting monthly personal income can be found on Effects of Selected Federal Pandemic
Response Program on Personal Income.
Consumer spending
Personal outlays increased in March, reflecting an increase in consumer spending for services and goods.
• Within services, the increase was
widespread and led by “other” services
(notably international travel), based on data
from BEA’s International Transactions
Accounts, as well as food services and
accommodations, based on Census Bureau
Monthly Retail Trade Survey (MRTS) data.
• Within goods, the increase primarily
reflected gasoline and other energy goods,
based on data from the Energy Information
Administration, as well as food and
beverages, based on MRTS data. These
increases were partly offset by a decrease
in motor vehicles and parts (led by new
motor vehicles, specifically, light trucks), based on unit sales data from Wards Intelligence.
Spending on food services as well as most categories of goods reflect updated Census retail sales data that
were recently benchmarked to results from the most recent annual survey.

Page 2 of 3

PCE price index
The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index for March increased 6.6 percent from one year
ago, reflecting increases in both goods and services. Energy prices increased 33.9 percent while food prices
increased 9.2 percent. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index for March increased 5.2 percent from
one year ago.

Compared to February, the PCE price index increased 0.9 percent, reflecting increases in both goods and
services. Energy prices increased 11.8 percent while food prices increased 1.4 percent. Excluding food and
energy, the PCE price index increased 0.3 percent from February to March.
For a comparison of PCE prices to BLS consumer price indexes, refer to NIPA Table 9.1U. Reconciliation of
Percent Change in the CPI with Percent Change in the PCE Price Index.

Page 3 of 3