{"id":284595,"date":"2011-02-28T14:58:04","date_gmt":"2011-02-28T14:58:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/"},"modified":"2011-02-28T14:58:04","modified_gmt":"2011-02-28T14:58:04","slug":"americans-earning-and-saving-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Americans earning and saving more"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div readability=\"88.1748953975\"><span id=\"fb-recommend\"\/><br \/>\n<span>By Hibah Yousuf, staff reporter<\/span><span>February 28, 2011: 10:10 AM ET<\/span><!--startclickprintexclude--><br clear=\"all\"\/><!--endclickprintexclude--><!-- CONTENT --><\/p>\n<p>NEW YORK (CNNMoney) &#8212; Americans earned more than expected in January, thanks to tax changes that boosted income, but consumers chose to add more to their savings at the start of year. <\/p>\n<p>Personal income surged 1% in January, following a 0.4% increase in December, according to data released Monday by the Commerce Department. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com were predicting a modest increase of just 0.3% in the month.<\/p>\n<p><!-- REAP --><!--startclickprintexclude--><!--endclickprintexclude--><!-- \/REAP --><\/p>\n<p>But consumers chose to stash the extra cash, rather than spend it. Americans saved $677.1 billion during the first month of the year, compared with $620.9 billion the prior month. And personal savings as a percentage of disposable income rose to 5.8% from 5.4% in December.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, spending by individuals ticked up just 0.2%, compared to a 0.5% increase the prior month. Economists were expecting an increase of 0.4% in January.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Consumers remain in a very cautious mood,&#8221; said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo. &#8220;They went out and splurged during the holiday season, but they&#8217;re not in the mood to do that again. In order to see spending grow faster than income, the economy needs stronger job growth.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Income was lifted by a reduction in employee social security contributions, which was part of the payroll tax cut passed by lawmakers in late 2010, as well as the expiration of the Making Work Pay tax provisions, rather than higher salaries and wages. <\/p>\n<p>In fact, private sector wage and salaries increased by $14.8 billion, or 0.3% last month, compared to a 0.4% rise in December.<\/p>\n<p>While the tax change was fully reflected in the January personal income figure, Americans will continue to see the extra cash in their weekly paychecks throughout the year, said Vitner. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Workers didn&#8217;t get all the gains for the year in their first paycheck,&#8221; Vitner said. &#8220;Plus, evidence shows that consumers don&#8217;t alter their behavior according to temporary tax changes.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Excluding the tax factors, income increased just 0.1% during the month, the government said. <\/p>\n<p>Vitner added that severe winter weather in January and high food and energy prices also put pressure on spending levels during the month.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/2011\/02\/28\/news\/economy\/personal_income_spending\/index.htm?section=money_topstories&#038;utm_source=feedburner&#038;utm_medium=feed&#038;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_topstories+%28Top+Stories%29#TOP\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/0e63013ebug.gif\" alt=\"To top of page\" border=\"0\" width=\"7\" height=\"7\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/CONTENT --><!--startclickprintexclude--><!--startclickprintexclude--><br \/>\n<!--endclickprintexclude--><\/p>\n<p>First Published: February 28, 2011: 9:17 AM ET<\/p>\n<p><!--endclickprintexclude--><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/0e63013ebug.gif\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Original post:<br \/>\n<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/rss.cnn.com\/~r\/rss\/money_topstories\/~3\/v2q33IC8YSk\/index.htm\" title=\"Americans earning and saving more\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Americans earning and saving more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> By Hibah Yousuf, staff reporter February 28, 2011: 10:10 AM ET NEW YORK (CNNMoney) &#8212; Americans earned more than expected in January, thanks to tax changes that boosted income, but consumers chose to add more to their savings at the start of year. Personal income surged 1% in January, following a 0.4% increase in December, according to data released Monday by the Commerce Department. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com were predicting a modest increase of just 0.3% in the month. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-284595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Americans earning and saving more - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Americans earning and saving more - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"By Hibah Yousuf, staff reporter February 28, 2011: 10:10 AM ET NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Americans earned more than expected in January, thanks to tax changes that boosted income, but consumers chose to add more to their savings at the start of year. Personal income surged 1% in January, following a 0.4% increase in December, according to data released Monday by the Commerce Department. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com were predicting a modest increase of just 0.3% in the month.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/0e63013ebug.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Americans earning and saving more\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-28T14:58:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/\"},\"wordCount\":363,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/0e63013ebug.gif\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/\",\"name\":\"Americans earning and saving more - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/0e63013ebug.gif\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-28T14:58:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/0e63013ebug.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/0e63013ebug.gif\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Americans earning and saving more - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Americans earning and saving more - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"By Hibah Yousuf, staff reporter February 28, 2011: 10:10 AM ET NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Americans earned more than expected in January, thanks to tax changes that boosted income, but consumers chose to add more to their savings at the start of year. Personal income surged 1% in January, following a 0.4% increase in December, according to data released Monday by the Commerce Department. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com were predicting a modest increase of just 0.3% in the month.","twitter_image":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/0e63013ebug.gif","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Americans earning and saving more","datePublished":"2011-02-28T14:58:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/"},"wordCount":363,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/0e63013ebug.gif","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/","name":"Americans earning and saving more - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/0e63013ebug.gif","datePublished":"2011-02-28T14:58:04+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/28\/americans-earning-and-saving-more\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/0e63013ebug.gif","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/0e63013ebug.gif"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284595\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}