Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 23, 1993 TAG: 9307230094
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Thursday its study found personal incomes nationally grew at a 4.6 percent annual rate from the first quarter of 1991 to the first quarter of 1993 - less than half the 9.8 percent annual rate of increase in the three previous recoveries that lasted as long as this one.
But people living in the 10 states with the slowest growth - including Virginia - averaged annual increases ranging from 2.3 percent in Connecticut to 4 percent in New Hampshire and Vermont, the report said. Virginia's rate was 3.6 percent.
At the same time, an index used by the bureau showed inflation rose at a 3.2 percent annual rate.
"Payrolls exceeded price hikes in all states except Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and California," said bureau analyst Rudolph E. DePass.
The report said the 10 states with the fastest personal income growth were in the nation's interior. Payroll increases there ranged from 8.7 percent in North Dakota and 8.4 percent in Nebraska to 6.1 percent in Kentucky and Utah.
Others included Idaho and Iowa, up 7.2 percent; South Dakota, 6.5 percent; Mississippi and Arkansas, 6.3 percent, and Washington, 6.2 percent.
In all of these states, payroll changes were above average in construction and service-type industries, including wholesale and retail trade, finance-insurance-real estate and transportation-public utilities.
Most of the fastest-growing states also saw above-average changes in manufacturing. But in the 10 slowest-growing states, payrolls fell in construction and manufacturing and increases were below average in service-type industries and government.
Other states with the slowest growth were Maine and Massachusetts, 2.9 percent; California, 3.1 percent; Maryland and Florida, 3.8 percent, and New York, 3.9 percent.
by CNB