CT Personal Income Recovery Lags Nation

Personal wealth in Connecticut is taking longer to recover from the recession than elsewhere in the country. A recent study shows incomes in the state rising less than 1% in the first quarter of this year. WNPR’s Harriet Jones reports.

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis has released comparative data for personal incomes around the nation, showing a total in Connecticut for the first quarter of $193 billion – virtually flat with the same quarter of 2009, when residents earned $192 billion. That was the lowest percentage income gain in New England, and in the bottom ten among all 50 states.

Connecticut’s average wage stood at $54,865 dollars – that’s still the highest in the nation, but it’s below its highest point, reached in 2008. Mississippi topped the rankings in terms of growth in the first quarter, seeing a 1.6% hike in personal incomes. The national average was growth of 0.9%. The good news for those whose wages are taking time to recover was that the inflation rate fell, to 0.4% percent from 0.6% in the fourth quarter of 2009.

For WNPR, I'm Harriet Jones.