The U.S. Department of Commerce has reported that Connecticut’s economy grew by 1 percent last year, down from 2015”™s 2.2 percent growth ”“ making it New England”™s second slowest-growing state ahead of Vermont, at 0.8 percent.
New Hampshire’s economy grew the most in New England, by 3 percent, followed by Massachusetts at 2 percent, Maine at 1.4 percent and Rhode Island at 1.2 percent. All outperformed neighboring New York, which grew by 0.8 percent.
However, Connecticut”™s $266.6 billion economy in the fourth quarter ”“ measured as the total value of all goods and services produced ”“ was the second largest in New England, behind Massachusetts”™ $516.5 billion.
The fastest growing states over 2016 were Washington, Oregon and Utah which grew 3.7 percent, 3.3 percent, and 3 percent, respectively. The largest contributor to growth in Washington and Utah was information services while the largest contributor to growth in Oregon was durable-goods manufacturing.
The states with the largest declines were North Dakota, Alaska, and Wyoming which fell by 6.5 percent, 5 percent, and 3.6 percent, respectively. Mining was the largest contributor to the decline in each of those states.
The U.S. economy was about $18.8 trillion in the fourth quarter; California, at nearly $2.7 trillion, led all states.
The nation”™s real GDP growth slowed to 1.5 percent in 2016 after increasing 2.6 percent in 2015. Real GDP grew in 43 states and the District of Columbia. Real GDP by state growth ranged from 3.7 percent in Washington to -6.5 percent in North Dakota. Information services; professional, scientific, and technical services; and health care and social assistance were the leading contributors to growth in 2016. In contrast, a decline in mining subtracted from growth nationally.
Both Connecticut”™s and Massachusetts”™ real GDP growth in the fourth quarter was 2 percent, ahead of Rhode Island 1.6 percent, Vermont”™s 1.5 percent and Maine”™s 0.7 percent. New Hampshire led New England at 2.4 percent; New York”™s was 0.4 percent. Texas led all states for the quarter with 3.4 percent real GDP growth.
