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State personal income grows in 2007 but still ranks 48th nationally Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 By Jason Wiest Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The personal income of Arkansans grew last year, but not enough to move the state's ranking above 48th in the nation, according to preliminary estimates released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Arkansas' per capita personal income grew 5.6 percent since 2006 to $30,060, faster than average growth of 5.2 percent nationally, according the department's Bureau of Economic Analysis. Arkansas ranked 18th nationally in terms of growth rates. Personal income, or income received from all sources including net earnings, rental income, dividends and interest, is an indicator of financial well-being and quality of life. Gov. Mike Beebe and Maria Haley, director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, have said one of their top priorities is to increase the state's average personal income level. Haley was out of her office and unavailable for comment Wednesday afternoon, an AEDC spokesman said. A Beebe spokesman said the governor was working on his call for a special session and would have no comment Wednesday on the personal income report. While Arkansas has consistently ranked near the bottom for the past 25 years, "there are a few states in the region that have moved up in rank and it might be useful for the policy makers to consider why they have," said Greg Kaza, an economist and executive director of the Arkansas Policy Foundation, a nonpartisan, non-profit organization that analyzes the impact of public policy in Arkansas. Alabama has risen four spots since 1983 to its 2007 ranking of 42nd in per capita personal income, Kaza said. "Part of that is Alabama's ability to attract durable goods manufacturing," he said, like a Toyota automobile manufacturing plant and the ThyssenKrupp AG steel plant, two superprojects that state recently landed. Arkansas vied for both projects. "Alabama is now the strong state in the region and that's showing up now in the income data," Kaza said. Louisiana had the highest per capita income growth rate at 9.2 percent. Much of the gain in Arkansas' neighbor to the south was accounted for by the Road Home subsidies, which averaged nearly $1,250 per resident, according to the BEA. The subsidies were given to people whose homes had been destroyed or damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Arizona had the lowest per capita personal income growth rate at 3.4 percent. The national economic slowdown affected personal income, the department said, noting that the residential construction slowdown was largely responsible for Arizona's slow personal income growth. U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., said although an economic stimulus package that will begin sending taxpayers checks by the end of April would help the economy into a temporary upswing, a second stimulus package for infrastructure is needed for the longer term. A key component of that package, which has not yet been considered by Congress, would be renewable fuels, the senator said. Aiding the industry would create jobs and could help Arkansas specifically because of its potential in the industry, she said. "Biodiesel is a huge product out there that has potential for us in this state, it has great potential for job creation, for cleaning up the environment, a whole host of things, giving farmers a secondary market," Lincoln said. Lincoln also pointed out highway projects for which environmental impact studies, engineering and design have already been done. "Let's get those kind of things moving so we get folks working, we get jobs created," she said. "They're going to be the best stimulus to the economy." |
