Impact on Black and minority firms of the September 2025 PCE price index. (Released on December 5, 2025)
The BEA’s December 5 2025 release reports the following for September: Personal income rose 0.4% vs August; disposable personal income (after taxes) rose 0.3%. Consumers spent more: current-dollar personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased 0.3%. But “real” PCE (adjusted for inflation) was essentially flat. The PCE Price Index — the broad inflation gauge for consumer goods and services — increased 0.3% month-over-month . On a 12-month basis, the PCE Price Index rose 2.8% . Excluding volatile food and energy categories (the “core” measure), prices also rose 0.2% month-over-month and about 2.8% year-over-year. In short: while incomes and nominal spending ticked up, inflation remains noticeable — pushing up costs for households and consumers. Inflation + Income: What That Means for Black & Minority-Owned Firms Because inflation directly affects the cost of goods, inputs, and consumers’ purchasing power, the rising PCE index has important imp...