by Calculated Risk on 10/29/2018 04:03:00 PM

Earlier I posted a graph showing real monthly personal consumption expenditures (PCE) based on the monthly BEA report.

Here is a graph showing the year-over-year change in real PCE since 2003.

In September, the YoY change was 3.0%, about the same level as for the last few years.

Click on graph for larger image.

There was a significant decline in real PCE during the great recession, and real PCE was fairly weak during the first few years of the recovery - partially due to the ongoing weakness in housing following the housing bubble and bust.

More recently real PCE has been increasing at a fairly steady rate around 3.0% per year.