Thread: Personal Income Up in Most Cities for 2010

Personal Income Up in Most Cities for 2010

By Seth Fiegerman

NEW YORK (MainStreet) — Fears of a double-dip recession have been renewed in recent weeks, even if for many Americans it may feel like the first recession never really went away. Now, a new report proves that consumers in much of the U.S. did enjoy some financial recovery after the recession ended, though perhaps not enough to make much of a difference.

Personal income increased by 2.3% overall in U.S. metropolitan areas, after having declined by 1.9% the previous year when the recession officially ended, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal earnings, which includes just income from wages, increased by 2.3% in 2010 and property income, which includes interest and dividends, grew by 0.6% - a remarkable turnaround after having decreased by 4% and 6.1% respectively the year before.

In fact, personal income increased in all but four of the country’s 366 metropolitan areas last year, showing the far reach of the nation’s fiscal recovery. Several regions enjoyed growth of more than 7% – including Lawton, Okla. and Midland, Texas. One metropolitan area, Elizabethtown, Ky., saw its residents’ personal income increase by just more than 10%. For the most part though, the growth was more modest and may not have been enough to offset multiple years of declining earnings during the recession.

In the New York metropolitan area, for example, personal income increased by a healthy 3.6% in 2010, but it had declined by 3.9% the year before. Likewise, in Santa Fe, N.M., personal income increased by 2.2% in 2010, but only after it had declined by nearly a half percent more than that the year before.

The same anemic growth can be seen by profession as well. According to the BEA, only two private sector industries (professional services and management of companies) saw overall workers’ earnings increase by enough in 2010 to offset losses from the previous two years. Others lagged far behind. Earnings for employees in nondurable goods manufacturing increased by 3.5% in 2010, but had declined by 10.8% the year before.

Meanwhile, earnings for the construction and real estate industries continued to decline last year, though at a slower rate than in 2009, as these professions struggle to achieve even the mild recovery from the recession that others have experienced.

http://www.mainstreet.com/article/caree ... ities-2010

Personal income up 2.5 percent in San Diego in 2010

By Elizabeth Aguilera, Reporter
Tuesday, August 9, 2011 at 5 p.m.
U-T Photos: Nadia Borowski Scott.

The Report

Bureau of Economic Analysis Personal Income 2010

Personal income rose slightly in 2010 in San Diego after a loss in 2009, according to a report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Nationwide, personal income rose in all but four of the 366 metropolitan areas.

Personal income in San Diego rose 2.5 percent in 2010 year-over-year to , $143.1 billion after it fell -1.7 percent in 2009 to $139.5 billion from $141.9 billion in 2008.

Nationally, personal in 2010 increased 2.9 percent, to $10.9 trillion, from 2009 after falling -1.9 percent, $10.6 trillion, the previous year. Personal income includes wages, dividends, interest and rent.

"If you have some extra jobs and small raises, that is going to be enough to drive up wages and salaries and that is going to drive personal income," said Dan Seiver, economist at San Diego State University. "Up is better than down. It's a sign that the economy, even though the recovery has not been very strong, has recovered from the depths of late 2008 and early 2009."

The biggest increases in personal income were seen in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, with a 10.1 percent increase; Lawton, Oklahoma, up 8.9 percent; Hinesville-Fort Steward, Georgia, up 7.9 percent; and Midland, Texas, up 7.4 percent.

Areas with none to negative growth in personal income in 2010 were Grand Junction, Colorado, with a -0.9 percent loss; Las Vegas-Paradise, Nevada, down -0.8 percent; Reno-Sparks, Nevada, with a loss of -0.1 percent; and Carson City, Nevada, where personal income did not change.
Across industries, government and 18 of the 21 private industries saw earnings rise in 2010. Professional services and management of companies recovered from losses in the two previous years.

Construction continues to experience declines with a -4.5 percent drop in real estate earnings, the lowest level in the last decade.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011 ... go-in-201/