The disposable income of families in the OECD grew less in 2017 than the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, as had been the case in previous years, according to data published today.
In the last quarter of last year, income per person (after deducting taxes and contributions, and adding social aid) increased by 0.3% in real terms, while GDP progressed by 0.5%.
It is true that there was a slight acceleration with respect to the third quarter, when per capita income had risen by 0.2%, while GDP had risen by 0.6%.
But in the nine quarters that go from October 2015 to December 2017 the disposable income that families have to buy goods or services or to save increased by 2.3%, while global wealth rose by 3.8%.
The difference between both indicators, of 1.5 percentage points for the group of the 35 countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), was 4.6 points in the United Kingdom, of 1.7 points in United States or 1.4 points in the euro zone.
Since 2010, the gap was even greater: 3.3 percentage points in the OECD, up 6.7 points in the United Kingdom and 6.6 points in the euro zone, but only 0.4 points in the United States .
