Personal income rose $70.7 billion, or about 0.3%, in December 2021, according to estimates released recently by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Disposable personal income increased $39.9 billion, or 0.2%, and personal consumption expenditures decreased $95.2 billion, or 0.6%.
Real disposable personal income fell 0.2% in December, and real personal consumption expenditures dropped 1%, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Goods fell 3.1%, while services increased 0.1%.
Estimates for December personal income and outlays reflected the continued economic recovery and the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the bureau. COVID-19 cases resulted in continued restrictions and disruptions in business operations in some parts of the country.
Government-issued social benefits decreased, primarily reflecting the winding down of pandemic-related assistance programs. The bureau said the full economic impact of the pandemic cannot be quantified in the personal income and outlays estimate because those impacts are generally embedded in source data and cannot be separately identified.