Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 24, 1992 TAG: 9201240202
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
INCOMES TRAIL INFLATION IN VA.
People living in Virginia, 11 other East Coast states, and California fell behind the average American in personal income growth through the worst of the recession last year, government figures showed Thursday.The Commerce Department reported personal incomes in those states and in 16 others, when adjusted for inflation, actually fell during the 12 months between July 1990 through June 1991.
Rudolph E. DePass, an analyst for the department's Bureau of Economic Analysis, which compiled the report, said the nation's personal income growth averaged 2.8 percent during the period - 1.1 percent less than the 3.9 percent increase in inflation.
Virginia ranked 38th among the states, with a 2.6 percent increase in personal income.
Ranked at the top of the growth list were Utah, where incomes rose 6.2 percent; Idaho and Hawaii, up 5.2 percent; Louisiana, 5.1 percent, and Texas, 5 percent.
States besides California experiencing the slowest personal income growth were the six New England states and New York, New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina and Georgia.
Growth in each was below the national average, including a 0.3 percent decline in Rhode Island, no change in New Hampshire and increases of just 0.2 percent in Maine and Massachusetts and 0.8 percent in New Jersey.
The report described personal income as revenue received from all sources, less social insurance contributions, measured before taxes and not adjusted for inflation.
The report showed construction and manufacturing payrolls declined sharply in California and the East Coast states experiencing the slowest income growth.
"It's a manifestation of what's been going on in the economy in general and in New England in particular," DePass said.
The Commerce analyst said both regions suffered from cutbacks in defense contracts and a slowdown in high-technology industries.
At the same time, DePass added, interest rates and housing prices were very high and people didn't have the purchasing power to buy.
"In the New England states and in New Jersey, New York, Maryland and California, the weakness in construction and manufacturing led to reduced demand for the output of private service-type industries," the report said.
"In all 10 states, retail trade payrolls declined and services payrolls grew slower than the national average," it continued. "In all except Connecticut and Vermont, payrolls in the finance-insurance-real estate group and in wholesale trade declined or grew slower than the average."
Inland states, on the other hand, experienced overbuilt conditions earlier than those on the coasts and "had worked off their excesses and rebounded from that," DePass said.