Monday, April 12, 2010

Personal Income and Transfer Receipts


Here is an update and refinement of the look at personal income less transfer receipts from the BEA NIPA Table 2.1.

A few observations:
1. On the way up, the personal income gains occurred primarily at the upper income ranges (some might say in a disproportionate manner).
2. On the way down, the personal income losses are falling most heavily on the lower income ranges (op cit).
3. 4Q2009 does not look like 'recovery' to me. We should see some slower rates of decline in 1Q2010, but that will be the first year on year comparison to the 1Q2009, the start of the 'cliff dive.'


The question occurred to me, what is the proportion of the transfer receipts to the personal income less transfer receipts? This seems pertinent to me as 98.5% of the transfer receipts are government social benefit payments to persons...

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