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Only Idaho Had Slower Personal Income Growth Than Arkansas In First Quarter

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis

Arkansas workers are seeing significantly lower-than-average growth in personal income, according to findings published this week by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which examined growth over the first quarter of the 2018.

Arkansas saw a growth of 2.5 percent, the same as New York. Only Idaho had slower growth at 2 percent. The national average was 4.3 percent.

Personal income increased in all fifty states and the District of Columbia, with the highest being 7.4 percent in Washington state.

"I would consider this most recent income report as indicating a period of weakness," said Dr. Michael Pakko with UA Little Rock Institute for Economic Advancement. But it’s nothing to be concerned about over the longer term. We should see our growth path resume as we get further into 2018."

Pakko notes that the growth percentages are part of an improving trend since the end of the last decade's great recession. He says Arkansas industries are beginning to get back on their feet.

"It really does depend on which sectors are doing well nationally and how those sectors are represented in the state," said Mervin Jebaraj, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. "It’s pretty volatile in terms of being really high in some quarters and really low in other ones."

According to Jebaraj, the farm industry is a key part of the state’s economy and plays into how Arkansas performs on a national scale.