Decreased real disposable income for households

Published:

Disposable income in households increased by NOK 2 billion in the first quarter of 2017 according to seasonally adjusted figures. This corresponds to a decrease in real disposable income of 2.4 per cent.

Figure 1. Disposable real income. Seasonally adjusted. 2009 = 100

Q1-2002 Q2-2002 Q3-2002 Q4-2002 Q1-2003 Q2-2003 Q3-2003 Q4-2003 Q1-2004 Q2-2004 Q3-2004 Q4-2004 Q1-2005 Q2-2005 Q3-2005 Q4-2005 Q1-2006 Q2-2006 Q3-2006 Q4-2006 Q1-2007 Q2-2007 Q3-2007 Q4-2007 Q1-2008 Q2-2008 Q3-2008 Q4-2008 Q1-2009 Q2-2009 Q3-2009 Q4-2009 Q1-2010 Q2-2010 Q3-2010 Q4-2010 Q1-2011 Q2-2011 Q3-2011 Q4-2011 Q1-2012 Q2-2012 Q3-2012 Q4-2012 Q1-2013 Q2-2013 Q3-2013 Q4-2013 Q1-2014 Q2-2014 Q3-2014 Q4-2014 Q1-2015 Q2-2015 Q3-2015 Q4-2015 Q1-2016 Q2-2016 Q3-2016 Q4-2016 Q1-2017
Disposable real income 79.3 79.9 82.7 80.8 81.1 84.9 85.6 86.5 85.8 88.5 86.8 87.8 91.7 97.5 92.9 95.8 87.5 87.6 89.2 89.2 93.6 93.2 95.3 94.6 96.7 96.2 97.5 98.3 95.8 99.5 101.8 102.9 101.4 102.1 103.4 103.3 104.8 106.0 108.3 107.9 111.0 110.8 111.0 113.1 114.3 114.9 116.8 116.8 115.4 117.8 120.2 121.6 121.8 125.9 126.5 125.9 120.6 122.6 124.4 124.0 121.0

Figure 2. Savings rate. Seasonally adjusted

Q1-2002 Q2-2002 Q3-2002 Q4-2002 Q1-2003 Q2-2003 Q3-2003 Q4-2003 Q1-2004 Q2-2004 Q3-2004 Q4-2004 Q1-2005 Q2-2005 Q3-2005 Q4-2005 Q1-2006 Q2-2006 Q3-2006 Q4-2006 Q1-2007 Q2-2007 Q3-2007 Q4-2007 Q1-2008 Q2-2008 Q3-2008 Q4-2008 Q1-2009 Q2-2009 Q3-2009 Q4-2009 Q1-2010 Q2-2010 Q3-2010 Q4-2010 Q1-2011 Q2-2011 Q3-2011 Q4-2011 Q1-2012 Q2-2012 Q3-2012 Q4-2012 Q1-2013 Q2-2013 Q3-2013 Q4-2013 Q1-2014 Q2-2014 Q3-2014 Q4-2014 Q1-2015 Q2-2015 Q3-2015 Q4-2015 Q1-2016 Q2-2016 Q3-2016 Q4-2016 Q1-2017
Savings rate 6.9 8.6 10.6 6.7 7.2 10.3 9.6 9.3 5.8 8.6 6 7.5 8.4 13.2 6.9 10.6 0.8 -2.1 0.1 -0.9 0.8 0.5 2.1 1.2 1.9 1.6 3.9 8.1 2.7 5.4 6.3 6.6 2.6 5.2 5 3.6 5.8 5.5 6.8 6.1 7.5 7.2 6.2 7.9 8.1 7.5 7.5 8.1 8.1 8.3 8.7 9.3 9.8 11.6 11.9 10 7.4 6.9 8 7.5 5.8

Compensation of employees went up approximately NOK 0.7 billion and payments and benefits received from general government, mostly work-related benefits, increased by NOK 0.9 billion in the first quarter of 2017 compared to the fourth quarter of 2016. Net property income decreased by around NOK 5 billion in the same period. Disposable income amounted to NOK 345 billion in the first quarter of 2017, which is 0.6 per cent lower than the previous quarter. Real disposable income decreased by 2.4 per cent.

Despite lower income, household consumption increased by just over NOK 4 billion. Together with a lower adjustment for changes in pension entitlements, this led to a decrease in savings in the first quarter of 2017. The seasonally adjusted savings rate was 5.8 per cent.

Increased income for corporations

Seasonally adjusted figures show that the operating surplus of corporations increased in the first quarter of 2017. Increased tax revenues led to higher savings in general government compared to the last quarter of 2016. Norway’s real disposable income increased by 0.3 per cent in the same period.

How the figures are calculated

The sum of four quarters in the Quarterly Sector Accounts (QSA) makes up the preliminary annual figures until the Annual Sector Accounts (ASA) for year t are published in September in year t+2.