Third quarter 2012 Arkansas income up 3.75%

Arkansas’ personal income totaled $103.093 billion in the third quarter of 2012, up almost 4% compared to the same period of 2011, and up almost 1% compared to the second quarter of 2012.

Nationwide, personal income growth slowed to 0.5% in the third quarter of 2012, from 0.7% in the second quarter.

The report, released Wednesday (Dec. 19) by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, showed that personal income related to the agri sector in Arkansas was up 0.31% compared to the second quarter of 2012.

Nationwide, farm earnings grew 5.8% in the third quarter after being down 4.7% in the second quarter.

“The strong farm earnings growth reflects net insurance settlements associated with the summer drought. Farm proprietors’ income excluding those net insurance settlements fell 4.9 % in the third quarter after falling 9.4 % in the second quarter,” noted the BEA report.

Following are personal income comparisons for Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri.
• Arkansas (year-over-year)
2012 Q3: $103.093 billion
2011 Q3: $99.363 billion
up 3.75%

• Arkansas (second quarter to third quarter)
2012 Q3: $103.093 billion
2012 Q2: $102.106 billion
up 0.096%

• Oklahoma (year-over-year)
2012 Q3: $148.720 billion
2011 Q3: $143.814 billion
up 3.41%

• Missouri (year-over-year)
2012 Q3: $234.433 billion
2011 Q3: $229.026 billion
up 2.36%

Other areas of gains (between second quarter and third quarter 2012) in Arkansas included a 0.06% increase in durable goods income; a 0.06% gain in management jobs; a 0.05% gain in professional/technical services; health care income up 0.05%; and real estate up 0.02%.

The mining sector in Arkansas posted a 0.01% decline, as did accommodation and food services.

The BEA report included the following key points.
• Growth slowed in 34 states, accelerated in 11, and was unchanged in 5. Growth across states ranged from 1.4% in North Dakota to a 1.6% decline in South Dakota.

• Inflation, as measured by the national price index for personal consumption expenditures, accelerated to 0.4% in the third quarter from 0.2% in the second quarter.

• Overall, earnings grew 0.5% in the third quarter of 2012, up from 0.4% in the second quarter.

• Earnings increased in 19 of the 24 industries for which BEA prepares quarterly estimates, with the largest percentage increase in farming (which grew 5.8%, after falling 4.7% in the previous quarter). The largest contributions to earnings growth were professional services (which increased $7.7 billion, up from $2.5 billion) and construction (which increased $6.7 billion, up from $0.3 billion).

• Earnings in the construction industry grew 3.6 % in Texas and 3.3 % in Oklahoma in the third quarter. Earnings growth of $2.3 billion in these two states was more than one half the $4.4 billion of construction earnings growth in the other forty-eight states.