Here are updates of two charts I have previously posted regarding income and consumer spending during the Covid-19 recession, including new numbers for December and revisions to numbers for prior months. These numbers come from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

On the first chart, the stacked columns show estimated personal income for the U.S. as a whole, by month, from January 2019 through December 2020. The numbers are seasonally adjusted annual rates. I have broken personal income into four parts: employee compensation (wages and salaries, and supplements); unemployment insurance benefits; other government social benefits (e.g., social security, Medicare and Medicaid); and other income (e.g. interest, dividends and profits of non-corporate business activities, including property rentals).

Personal income in December was $116.6 billion more than in November.

The black line on the first chart shows monthly personal consumption expenditures. Again, these numbers are seasonally adjusted annual rates. Consumption expenditures in December 2020 were $27.9 billion less than in November.

The second chart shows the personal saving rate, monthly from January 2019 through December 2020. (The saving rate is equal to the amount of personal saving divided by the amount of disposable personal income. Disposable personal income equals personal income less personal current taxes, which are mostly income taxes).

The saving rate jumped from 8.3% in February to an astounding 33.7% percent in April and then declined in steps to 12.9% in November. In December, with income up and consumption expenditures down, the saving rate increased to 13.7%.

All of these numbers are preliminary estimates that will be revised as more information becomes available to the statisticians at the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Looking forward to next month’s BEA report, the federal stimulus bill enacted on December 27 will certainly increase January personal income, and this should lead to an increase in personal consumption expenditures. Indeed, Opportunity Insight’s Economic Tracker shows that consumer spending jumped up in early January.

The BEA press release is here. A BEA table showing the effects of selected federal pandemic response programs on personal income is here. The Economic Tracker is here.