Personal Income Growth in the Hudson Valley Fell Dramatically in 2013, New Marist Economic Report Shows

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Personal Income Growth in the Hudson Valley Fell Dramatically in 2013, New Marist Economic Report Shows

POUGHKEEPSIE (March 24) — Growth in total personal incomes in the Hudson Valley slowed to a five-year low in 2013, the year for which the most current data is available, according to a new report from the Marist College Bureau of Economic Research.

Total personal income (TPI) in the region grew just 0.62 percent in 2013, compared to 6.08 percent in 2012. A significant decline in the growth of earned income from wages, salaries, and benefits was the biggest drag on the overall growth of TPI, the report found.

“Weak to negative wage growth, in concert with the continued substitution of low-wage jobs in place of high-wage jobs, contributed to this sluggish growth,” said the report’s author, bureau Director Dr. Christi Huebner Caridi.

The report also found that unearned income in the form of interest, dividends, and rents, had a similarly weak showing, increasing 1.14 percent on the year, compared to double-digit increases in both 2012 and 2011.

Also addressed in the report are income disparities among counties in the region as well as among households. For example, the report shows that the most recent TPI data continues to reinforce intra-regional disparities in that Westchester, Putnam, and Rockland counties exceeded national and statewide per-capita income rates, while Dutchess County was above the national average, but below the statewide one, and Ulster, Orange, and Sullivan counties ranked below both averages.

At the household level, the distribution of earned income continues to favor households reporting adjusted gross income (AGI) of $100,000 or more. According to the most recent available Internal Revenue Service data, nearly 26 percent of all households in the region reported an AGI of $100,000 and above. These household also accounted for more than 68 percent of all earned income. At $206,509, the average earned income in the $100,000-and-over category was six times greater than the average earned income in the less-than-$100,000 category.

“This is a nationwide trend with implications for both the region and individual counties,” Caridi said. “Sluggish earned income growth leads to sluggish aggregate demand growth, which in turn negatively impacts employment and. in so doing, earned income growth lags all the more.”

Author: Harlem Valley News