pew trust report reveals diverse income growth

Arizona and Colorado have posted strong personal income growth numbers since the end of the Great Recession, with New Mexico somewhat lagging behind with a just under 1 percent growth rate in the last decade.

These are the numbers just compiled by the Pew Charitable Trust, using surveys on income growth trends charted by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The report, entitled State Economic Growth Uneven Since Recession Began, also shows that North Dakota has been the state with the fastest-growing rate of personal income, expanding by 3.6 percent.

Other top growth rate states include Texas and Utah, both at 2.6 percent; and Washington with 2.4 percent.

The overall growth rates of these states, says the Pew report, “matched or beat the historical U.S. pace” usually seen in personal income numbers coming out of a recession.

States with the lowest income growth rates during this same time include Louisiana and Alabama, both with 0.9 percent increases; and Mississippi with a 0.8 percent increase.

In a surprise, Connecticut posted the slowest growth rate of any state in the country at 0.6 percent. That number, according to Connecticut officials, is partly due to a loss of insurance jobs through telecommuting and outsourcing.

The Pew report notes that personal income drastically declined in “almost all states in 2009 during the depths of the recession,” and tumbled again in 2013 “after taxpayers shifted income to avoid a potential tax hike.”

But the good news recorded in 2017 shows that almost every state experienced some level of recovery, with Nevada leading the pack at 4.5 percent.

By Garry Boulard