State personal income up slightly in third quarter

Missouri's personal income for the third quarter was barely up from the second quarter, echoing the national trend, according to statistics released Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Missouri's personal income total was $214.2 billion, up just 0.1 percent from the second quarter of 2009 and down 0.8 percent from the third quarter of 2008.

Nationally, average personal income growth was 0.3 percent for the quarter. Alaska posted the strongest quarter, growing by 0.8 percent, while the biggest decline was 0.4 percent in Louisiana.

The health care and finance industries made the most contribution to income growth nationally, according to BEA, with declines in goods-producing industries offsetting some of that increase.

The lackluster growth in personal income is exacerbated by inflation, which hit 0.7 percent in the quarter and exceeded income growth in every state except Alaska.

The BEA defines personal income as the income received by all persons from all sources - the sum of net earnings, rental income of persons, personal dividend income, personal interest income and personal current transfer receipts.

Personal income is measured before income taxes and other personal taxes and is reported in current dollars.[[In-content Ad]]