Income Trends

According to new data out today from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, state personal income growth slowed in the second quarter of 2011to 1.1 percent.  That's compared to an average growth rate of 2.1 percent in the first quarter. Growth rates ranged from a high of 2.2 percent in Nebraska and South Dakota to a low of 0.7 percent in both Washington and Georgia.

According to reports released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, national personal income increased by $42.4 billion – or 0.3% - in July compared to June. Personal consumption also went up in July, increasing by 0.8%. Growth rates in July were similar to those in June, when personal income increased $27.7 billion, or 0.2%, and personal consumption was up 0.1%.  Personal income was up 5% over July 2010.  

Although childhood poverty rates declined throughout most of the 1990s, they have been on the rise again.  Between 2008 and 2009, child poverty jumped 10 percent – the single biggest year-over-year jump in the data’s history.  And from 2000-2009, rates increased in 38 states.  That means 1 in 5 children now live in poverty.

Although the wage gap between men and women has narrowed slightly in recent years, the difference between a woman’s paycheck and a man’s is still significant. The ratio of women’s to men’s median weekly earnings (full-time wage and salary workers) in 2010 was 81.2.  That means that a woman who earns a weekly wage that is statistically in the middle of all weekly wages earned 81.2% of what the same statistical middle-of-the-road male earned last year. The median weekly earnings for a female were $669, while a male earned $824.