Personal Income and Wages Key Points

DPI stands for Disposable Person Income. Disposable means after taxes.

Real means inflation adjusted.

Income includes wages, dividends, rent and all sources of income.

Workers who don't receive dividends or rental income view the world as shown by the red lines. Those who have no assets are renters.

One reason Disposable Personal Income is up: People need to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet.

This is also reflected in the blue line in the lead chart.

Personal Current Transfer Receipts

The above chart introduces Personal Current Transfer Receipts (PCTR). PCTR is income for which no goods were produced and no work performed.

PCTR includes Medicare, Medicaid, disability payments, food stamps, rent assistance, and Social Security.

PCTR is included in Disposable Income in all of the above charts.

The green line in the above chart shows Real DPI minus PCTR. Please compare the green line to the red line.