DataPost
Personal Saving Rate
Delayed Consumption
Date last updated: May 9, 2016
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
Economic Education & Outreach
Saving Rate – Did You Know?
Personal Saving Rate
Definition
• The saving rate is personal saving as a percentage
of disposable income
• Personal saving is personal income (like wages or
salary) minus spending
• Disposable income is personal income minus taxes
12
10.6
10
7.8
8
5.6
6
Calculation
• The most common measure of the U.S. personal
saving rate is based on the National Income and
Product Accounts (NIPA)
• NIPA is also used to calculate gross domestic
product (GDP) and gross domestic income (GDI)
4.2
4
2
1980
1990
2000
2010
Sources: Bureau of Economic Analysis
& FRBSF calculations
Relationship
DataPost
• Personal saving reflects a tradeoff between current
and future consumption
• Increased current saving reduces current
consumption and enables future consumption
By 2000 personal saving (as a
percent of disposable income)
had dropped to 39% of its 1980
rate.
www.frbsf.org/education/teacher-resources/datapost
FRBSF Economic Education & Outreach
Personal Saving Rate (%)
Seasonally adjusted values, Jan. 2000 – Mar. 2016
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis
DataPost
www.frbsf.org/education/teacher-resources/datapost
FRBSF Economic Education & Outreach
Annotated Chart Notes
Personal Saving Rate (%)
Seasonally adjusted values, Jan. 2000 – Mar. 2016
12
During the latest
recession, the average
saving rate was 5.3%
compared to an
average 4.4% during
the 2001 recession
11
Households often
save more during a
recession
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis
DataPost
www.frbsf.org/education/teacher-resources/datapost
FRBSF Economic Education & Outreach
What Do You Think?
1. What was your personal saving rate last month?
A.
Within a given month, add up all earnings, taxes paid, and
expenses to calculate your personal saving rate:
(Disposable Income – Spending)
Disposable Income
X
100
2. Compare your personal saving rate with the U.S.
average in 2015.
DataPost
www.frbsf.org/education/teacher-resources/datapost
FRBSF Economic Education & Outreach