In the years since the Great Recession, Connecticut has lagged far behind the rest of the country in personal income growth, according to a new data analysis released by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Measuring the period from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of this year, Pew found the national annual growth rate for inflation-adjusted personal income was 1.9%. North Dakota”™s residents recorded the highest personal income increase during this period with a robust growth rate of 3.3% a year, which is four times the level of Connecticut”™s anemic 0.8% growth rate.
Connecticut”™s poor performance was attributed to losses in its manufacturing sector, particularly in the chemical industry. Connecticut and Mississippi, which has a 0.9% growth rate, were the only states that failed to score 1% or higher in the Pew study.
Pew also estimated the personal income growth rate on a year-over-year measurement from the first quarter of 2018 to the first quarter of this year. Connecticut scored a low 0.6% growth rate, with only New Hampshire (0.2%) and Rhode Island (0.3%) scoring lower rates. Those states, along with Massachusetts (0.7%), were the only states that did not crack the 1% level in year-over-year personal income growth.
