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The Impact Of Economy On The Economy

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• The economy continues to experience stable personal income growth, increasing 0.4% in April. On a quarterly basis, personal income rose 4.1% in the first quarter, staying within the higher-than-4% trend that started in the first quarter last year. In the first quarter, personal income rose to $15,129 billion, higher than the 2014 fourth quarter of $14,979 billion. Real disposable income—that is personal income less personal taxes adjusted for price changes—rose 5.3% in the fourth quarter, to $13,285 billion. Rising personal income fueled increasing PCE. PCE increased 1.8% in the first quarter with services and durable goods consumption rising at 2.5% and 1.1%, respectively. • Despite uneven monthly jobs data, the economy’s labor utilization continued to rise. In January and February, 201,000 and 266,000 jobs were added, respectively. March jobs numbers, however, were disappointing adding only 119,000 jobs causing the unemployment rate to stay unchanged at 5.5% in February and March. Nevertheless, the unemployment rate continued to fall in the first quarter and the trend continued in April and May. Total number of jobs added in the first quarter was 552,000. April job numbers confirmed that March was a one-off dip, adding 221,000 jobs, which brought the unemployment rate down to 5.4%. Although 280,000 jobs were added in May, unemployment rate was recorded 5.5%, due to an increase in the civilian labor force by 0.25% compared to a 0.1% increase in April. • The economy

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