Personal Income Drops Across the Country

[CARLHAYDEN]

MARCH 26, 2010.Personal Income Drops Across the Country By SARA MURRAY

Personal income in 42 states fell in 2009, the Commerce Department said Thursday
 
How state personal income changed in 2009 from 2008.

Nevada's 4.8% plunge was the steepest, as construction and tourism industries took a beating. Also hit hard: Wyoming, where incomes fell 3.9%.

Incomes stayed flat in two states and rose in six and the District of Columbia. West Virginia had the best showing with a 2.1% increase. In Maine, Kentucky and Hawaii, increased government benefits, such as unemployment insurance and Social Security, offset drops in earnings and property values.

Nationally, personal income from wages, dividends, rent, retirement plans and government benefits declined 1.7% last year, unadjusted for inflation. One bright spot: As the economy recovered, personal income was up in all 50 states in the fourth quarter compared with the third. Connecticut, again, had the highest per capita income of the 50 states at $54,397 in 2009. Mississippi ranked lowest at $30,103.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     As my limited understanding of economics has it, a drop in personal income is actually a positive indicator in a recession. That happens because the measurement of personal income does not include those who are unemployed, so a decrease suggests that the people who are unemployed (disproportionately the less skilled workers) have gotten jobs (which tend to be lower paying than that held by the average currently employed person, owing to the lesser experience & training of the average unemployed person).

[CARLHAYDEN]

     As my limited understanding of economics has it, a drop in personal income is actually a positive indicator in a recession. That happens because the measurement of personal income does not include those who are unemployed, so a decrease suggests that the people who are unemployed (disproportionately the less skilled workers) have gotten jobs (which tend to be lower paying than that held by the average currently employed person, owing to the lesser experience & training of the average unemployed person).

I don't know where you got that misunderstanding (jmfcst maybe).

[opebo]

In any case wasn't 2009 last year? 

[CARLHAYDEN]

In any case wasn't 2009 last year? 

One of the problems is that government data is frequently delayed (and often subsequently adjusted),