Personal income, expenses rise in May

Personal income rose 0.4% or by $67.1 billion in May, from the previous month, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal income has risen over the past five months.

“The increase in personal income in May primarily reflected increased in personal dividend income, compensation of employees and nonfarm proprietors’ income,” according to the BEA.

Disposable personal income increased 0.5% or by $71.7 billion in May, from the previous month, according to the BEA. Personal consumption expenditures were up 0.1%, rising $7.3 billion in May, from the previous month. Personal consumption expenditures and disposal personal income have risen over the past five months.

Real disposable personal income increased 0.6% in May, and real personal consumption expenditures rose 0.1%, according to the BEA. “The largest contributor to the increase in real PCE in May was spending for services, specifically electricity and gas.”

The personal consumption expenditures price index fell 0.1%. Not including food and energy, the index was up 0.1%. Year-over-year, the personal consumption expenditures index rose 1.4% in May, from the same month in 2016. The index, excluding food and energy, was up by the same percentage in May.

Personal outlays rose $9.5 billion in May; personal saving reached $791 billion; and the personal saving rate, which represents saving as a percentage of disposal personal income, was 5.5%.