Disposable Income Growth Remains Weak

(Negative) February real disposable income was $12,830 billion dollars (seasonally adjusted at an annual rate). This was an all-time high for real disposable income. In February, real disposable income grew 2.3 percent compared with one year ago. While an improvement from last month, this was the second slowest rate of month-over-month growth since January 2014. The month-over-month rate of growth was below 3.0 percent in 12 of the last 13 months. The annual rate of growth has decelerated steadily since August 2015. In February, the annual rate of growth, now 2.6 percent, was the slowest since October 2014. Also, this was the eighth month in a row that the annual rate of growth was below 3.1 percent, which is the historical average.