R.I., Mass. personal income growth slips in first quarter

RHODE ISLAND'S personal income rose eight-tenths of a percent in the first three months of 2014, matching the U.S. national average but ranking second-lowest in New England for personal income growth during the first quarter. / COURTESY U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
RHODE ISLAND'S personal income rose eight-tenths of a percent in the first three months of 2014, matching the U.S. national average but ranking second-lowest in New England for personal income growth during the first quarter. / COURTESY U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

PROVIDENCE – Personal income in Rhode Island rose eight-tenths of a percent in the first quarter, after increasing 1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to a report released Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Personal income in the Ocean State totaled $50.5 billion in the first quarter on an annualized basis, a gain of $382 million over the fourth-quarter total of $50.1 billion. In the first quarter of 2013, Rhode Island reported annualized total personal income of $48.8 billion.

Rhode Island’s eight-tenths of a percent change in first-quarter personal income matched the U.S. average but was one of the lowest in New England. Only Maine, with a five-tenths of a percent gain in personal income, ranked lower.

In the Massachusetts, first-quarter personal income totaled $391.2 billion on an annualized basis, an increase of $3.6 billion, or nine-tenths of a percent, from $387.7 billion in the fourth quarter of last year. First-quarter personal income in 2013 totaled an annualized $375.6 billion in the Bay State.

- Advertisement -

In the fourth quarter, personal income in Massachusetts grew 1.3 percent compared with the third quarter.

Vermont boasted the strongest personal income gains in the region, with a 1.4 percent rise, followed by Connecticut, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, each with a change in personal income of nine-tenths of a percent.

The BEA defines personal income as the sum of net earnings by place of residence, property income and personal current transfer receipts.

In Rhode Island, total earnings dropped for three industries in the first quarter – military ($18 million less than in the fourth quarter of 2013), corporate management ($12 million less) and durable goods manufacturing ($2 million less).

The Ocean State’s professional, scientific and technical services industry was most improved in the first quarter, with professionals in that field earning $51 million more collectively than in the fourth quarter last year.

Massachusetts saw first-quarter earnings drops in durable goods manufacturing ($81 million less), farming ($21 million less), corporate management ($76 million less), federal government and military ($7 million less and $8 million less, respectively), and forestry and fishing ($1 million less).

As in Rhode Island, Massachusetts’ professional, scientific and technical services industry was much improved in the first quarter, gaining $959 million, and the construction industry also made a strong showing with a gain of $441 million in total earnings.

Nationwide, first-quarter earnings dropped in farming ($16.5 billion less than in the fourth quarter last year), the information industry ($9.2 billion less), corporate management ($2.6 billion less) and durable goods manufacturing ($1.7 billion less).

No posts to display