Income Growth Slows Again

(Negative) April real disposable income was $12,859 billion dollars (seasonally adjusted at an annual rate). As usual, this was an all-time high in real disposable income. In April, real disposable income grew 1.9 percent compared with one year ago. The rate of growth was below 2.0 percent for the fourth time in five months. Also, the rate of was well below the historic average of 3.1 percent. The annual rate of growth has decelerated steadily since August 2015. In April, the annual rate of growth, now 2.2 percent, was the slowest since October 2014. Also, this was the 10th month in a row that the annual rate of growth was below 3.1 percent, which is the historic average.