Personal Income Up 0.1%, Personal Consumption Up 0.5%

Personal income rose 0.1% from December to January, the slowest growth since September. The slight increase followed a downwardly revised 0.3% growth in December. Higher contributions to unemployment-related government programs in addition to declines in dividend, rental, and other asset income were drags on total income in January.

Consumption rose 0.5% in January, on a 1.8% surge in nondurable goods, with some of that growth being price related. Real spending grew 0.3% on strong durable and nondurable spending, while service spending was weak. This is the highest increase in real spending since May 2008. The increased spending was at the expense of the savings rate, which fell from 4.2% in December to 3.3% in January.

Prices rose 0.2% from the previous month, while prices excluding food and energy were flat, signaling inflation continued to be well-contained.

m/m % change	Jan	Dec	Nov	Oct	Sep	Aug
Personal Income	0.1	0.3	0.4	0.3	0.1	0.3
Consumption	0.5	0.3	0.5	0.5	-0.6	1.3
PCE Deflator	0.2	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.3
Core Prices	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.1
Savings Rate, %	3.3	4.2	4.1	4.1	4.2	3.4

10.03.01 (Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis)