Personal income increases in March, says BEA

New government figures released at the start of May have found that the end of 2010’s first quarter saw widespread gains in most figures relating to consumer income, signaling that Americans may not be as strapped for cash and in need of debt consolidation as they have been in recent months.

According to newly released data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, personal income increased by $36 billion in March representing a 0.3 percent increase over the previous month’s figures.

Along with an increase in the amount of money finding its way into the bank accounts of consumers across the country, so too did the amount of extra cash that Americans had to spend. The BEA’s March figure for disposable personal income also saw an increase of $32.3 billion, a 0.3 percent increase from the previous month’s figures.

The BEA also found that private wage and salary disbursements for the month also saw an increase of $11.8 billion for the month, nearly double the $6.8 billion increase in the figure seen in February.

Goods-producing industries’ payrolls were also able to nearly offset a $3.3 billion decrease recorded in February as they increased by $2.2 billion in March.