February personal income and spending decline
February personal income and spending decline: the back end of January stimulus payments
Last month I wrote that the:
“report on January personal income and spending shows just how important the stimulus packages enacted by the federal government both last spring and last month have been to sustaining the economy.”
The truth of that was confirmed on the back end in this morning’s report for February, in which January’s 10% increase in income was followed by a -7.1% decrease (red). January’s increase of 3.4% in spending was also partially reversed by a -1.0% decrease in February (blue):
In its release, the Census Bureau confirmed this analysis, writing: