For First Time, U.S. Government Transfer Payments Surpass $3 Trillion on Annualized Basis

Once government transfer payments are removed from the equation, personal income stagnated last month for the third time this year, Commerce Department figures showed. Government transfer payments surpassed $3 trillion on an annualized basis for the first-time last month and account for about one-in-five dollars collected by Americans.

Transfer payments as a percentage of personal income jumped after the recession and have grown in recent years as more Americans receive transfer payments from the government -- mostly in the form of social security payments.