24th Month of Real Disposable Income Growth

The BEA reported today that Real Disposable Income grew by 2.1% in December from a year ago, the 24th consecutive month of positive growth (see chart above).

Bottom Line: Real Disposable Income is one of the 5 economic recession-indicating variables watched by the NBER (the others are real GDP, industrial production, trade sales, and employment), and the 2.1% growth in December suggests that there is still no evidence yet that recessionary conditions are affecting the U.S. economy.

Update: Graph now goes back to 2001.