U.S. personal income growth hits 1% in 2Q, R.I. ranks 3rd regionally

By Kimberley Donoghue
PBN Web Editor

WASHINGTON – State personal income growth averaged 1.0 percent in the second quarter of 2010, up slightly from 0.9 percent in the first quarter, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Monday.

Growth rates ranged from 2.0 percent in North Dakota and 0.3 percent in Nevada.

In 27 states, including Rhode Island, personal income climbed above the current-dollar level reached before the recession. However, if transfer receipts (such as unemployment compensation) are excluded from that equation, only Alaska and Maryland have returned to that level, the Bureau of Economic Analysis observed.

Health care was a major driver of nonfarm industry earnings increases, accounting for $12.1 billion, along with professional services, $8.7 billion, and civilian federal government, $7.4 billion. The federal government earnings gains were boosted, however, by a temporary hires of census workers.

Property income – consisting of dividends, interest and rent – grew 0.3 percent nationally in the second quarter, down from 1.5 percent growth in the first quarter, the BEA noted.

“In every state except Louisiana, rental income was the fastest growing component of the property income,” said the bureau. Louisiana’s rental income was affected by the phasing-out of the homeowner assistance payments program associated with Hurricane Katrina.

Among the eight regions ranked by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, New England’s personal income growth rate change came in at 1.0 percent in the second quarter compared with the first, tying with three other regions, including: the Great Lakes, the Plains and the Southeast. The Southwest fared better, with 1.4 percent growth rate compared with the preceding quarter, while the Far West noted the smallest increase at 0.8 percent.

Rhode Island – where personal income grew 1.0 percent compared with the preceding quarter – ranked third in New England and 24th nationwide. It was trailed by Maine, 30th nationwide, and Massachusetts at 31st, where second-quarter income growth amounted to 0.9 percent.

Leading the region was Vermont, 16th in the nation, with a personal income growth growth rate of 1.1 percent from the previous quarter, and New Hampshire, which matched Rhode Island’s growth rate change at 1.0 percent.

Below is a listing of the personal income for New England states, as well as the ranking of growth rates from the first quarter of 2010 to the second quarter.

• Massachusetts – $334.2 billion in personal income, ranked No. 31 in growth

• Connecticut – $196.7 billion, No. 35

• New Hampshire – $57.5 billion, No. 22

• Maine – $49.3 billion, No. 30

• Rhode Island – $44.2 billion, No. 24

• Vermont – $24.6 billion, No. 16