PROVIDENCE – Personal income in Rhode Island increased for a second consecutive quarter last summer as the state continued to rebound from a record decrease at the start of this year, according to figures released by the U.S. Commerce Department.
The government reported that Rhode Islanders’ personal income rose 0.4 percent from July through September to a total of $43.51 billion. The quarterly rate of growth was 18th-fastest and matched three of the other New England states. Massachusetts and New Hampshire both clocked in at 0.5 percent, the region’s fastest pace.
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The government also revised upward its estimate for the second quarter to show that Rhode Islanders’ personal income rose 1.5 percent from April through June to $43.36 billion, up from an earlier estimate of 0.8 percent growth and a total of $43.03 billion.
Personal income peaked in Rhode Island at $43.84 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, then slid 2.6 percent during the first quarter of this year to $42.7 billion, its lowest level in a year and a half.
The 2.6 percent drop during the first quarter was the largest on record, according to Commerce Department data that stretches back to 1969. The second-worst drop on record, a 1.4 percent decline in the first quarter of 1993, was only about half as severe.
In all, 33 states saw personal income rise in the third quarter, down from 41 in the previous quarter. Nationally, personal income grew 0.3 percent in the third quarter, compared with an increase of 0.8 percent in the second quarter and a decrease of 2.2 percent in the first quarter.
Alaska posted the largest gain during the second quarter, with income growth of 0.8 percent, which Commerce Department officials attributed to high military earnings.
Personal income includes net earnings – wages and salaries after Social Security and Medicare deductions, but before income tax deductions – plus investment income, such as dividends, interest and rent.
