Investing June 27, 2003

Personal Income Rises 0.3% in May

June 27, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Americans' personal income rose by 0.3%, or $27.1 billion, in May.
Reported by

May’s increase in personal income was only slightly above the revised 0.2% gain recorded in April, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

Further, personal savings was up to $283.4 billion, compared with $271.5 billion in April.  Personal savings as a percentage of disposable personal income was 3.5% in May, compared with 3.4% in April.  

The personal income gain came in as expected, while spending was slightly below the 0.2% economists had forecast, according to surveys of nine economists by Dow Jones Newswires and CNBC.

Wages

Private wage and salary disbursements increased $6.9 billion in May, compared with a decrease of $2.7 billion in April. By industry:

  • manufacturing payrolls increased $0.4 billion
  • distributive industries’ payrolls increased $1.9 billion
  • service industries’ payrolls increased $2 billion
  • goods-producing industries’ payrolls increased $3.1 billion.

Government wage and salary disbursements were also up in May, recording an increase of $0.7 billion, compared with an increase of $2.7 billion in April.

The BEA says June’s figures will be released onAugust 1, 2003.  A full release of May data can be found at  http://www.bea.gov/bea/newsrel/pi0503.htm .

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