Saving Rates in the United States: Calculation and Comparison

Brian W. Cashell
Specialist in Macroeconomic Policy

The amount of money saved has important economic consequences. Nationally, the amount of saving affects how much can be invested and ultimately the size of the capital stock. Increasing the size of the capital stock is believed to be one way to raise the productivity of the labor force. Individually, saving is critical to accumulating sufficient wealth to maintain living standards after retirement. This report explains how national saving is measured, presents recent estimates of saving rates in the United States, and, for comparison, provides those of other major industrial countries.


Date of Report: March 29, 2010
Number of Pages: 9
Order Number: RS21480
Price: $29.95

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