BEA says American personal spending, disposable income rose slightly in April

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – April saw a modest boost in personal spending of 0.4 percent and disposable personal income rose by 0.3 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The increases translated to $46.1 billion in additional spending and an extra $35.1 billion in disposable personal income. In addition, personal consumption expenditures rose by o.4 percent or $41.5 billion.

However, the disposable personal income figure is a bit misleading because real disposable personal income, which is adjusted to remove price changes, actually decreased in April. However, the decrease in real disposable personal income was less than 0.1 percent.

Although any increase in spending is considered good for the economy, most of this increase came from higher gasoline and food prices. That left consumers with less money to spend on other items.

Personal savings dropped slightly in terms of dollar amount but remained the same percentage of disposable personal savings, which is disposable personal income less personal outlays. The percentage was 4.9 percent, while the dollar amount was $570.6 billion in April, versus $576.7 billion in March.

View full post on All Stories