By TIOL News Service

GROWTH in real household income per capita, which provides a better picture of changes in households’ economic well-being than real GDP growth per capita, accelerated to 0.6% in the OECD area in the first quarter of 2019, compared with 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2018, outpacing real GDP growth per capita for the second straight quarter.

In the United States and Canada, growth in real household income per capita picked up strongly to 0.9% in the first quarter of 2019 (from 0.5% and 0.0% respectively in the previous quarter). Real GDP per capita growth accelerated to 0.6% (from 0.1%) in the United States but contracted for the second straight quarter in Canada by (minus) 0.1%.

In France, real household income per capita growth slowed to 0.8% in the first quarter of 2019, compared to 1.1% in the previous quarter. Growth in real GDP per capita remained at 0.3%.

In Germany and the United Kingdom, growth in real household income per capita slowed to 0.6% and 0.3%, respectively, in the first quarter of 2019 (from 0.7% in the previous quarter) but real GDP per capita growth picked up to 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively, (from 0.1% in the previous quarter).

In Italy, real household income per capita picked up markedly in the first quarter of 2019 by 0.5% (from minus 0.4%). Real GDP per capita also grew in the first quarter of 2019 by 0.2% (from minus 0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2018).

In the euro area, growth in real household income per capita accelerated to 0.7% in the first quarter of 2019, from 0.4% in the previous quarter. Growth in real GDP per capita also increased in the first quarter of 2019, from 0.1% to 0.4%.
Over the last two years, in the OECD as a whole, growth in real household income per capita outpaced growth in real GDP per capita by 0.7 percentage point. Growth in real household income per capita outpaced growth in real GDP per capita in all Major Seven economies, the gap was largest in the United Kingdom (2.2 pp) and Canada (1.9 pp).

Over a longer period however, since the first quarter of 2010, real GDP per capita growth outpaced real household income per capita growth in most Major Seven economies, with the United Kingdom showing the highest gap (5.6 pp). In the United States, growth in real household income per capita outpaced growth in real GDP per capita by 5.0 percentage points.