Personal Income Of CT Residents Grows Slower Than Nation: Report

CONNECTICUT — The personal incomes of Connecticut residents last year grew at the second-slowest rate in the nation, according to a new report by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Personal income grew at 1.7 percent for Connecticut residents during the coronavirus pandemic, and only the personal income of Wyoming residents grew slower during the same period, at 1.1 percent.

Connecticut, Wyoming and Alaska (growth rate, 1.9 percent) were the only states with growth under 3 percent in 2020, according to the report.

By comparison, residents of Arizona and Montana saw their personal incomes grow at the highest rate last year, with each state growing at 7.1 percent.

The report defines personal income as "residents' paychecks, Social Security benefits, employers' contributions to retirement plans and health insurance, income from rent and other property, and benefits from public assistance programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, among other items."

The average annual per capita income of a Connecticut resident is just under $45,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

While all states saw personal incomes grow during the pandemic, that growth was largely due to government intervention, mostly in the form of stimulus payments and increased unemployment benefits.

"Government assistance swelled in 2020 compared with a year earlier as policymakers pumped money into the economy to help Americans weather the pandemic, which upended normal economic patterns and left millions unemployed for much of the year," the report's authors wrote.

In January 2020, Connecticut's unemployment rate was 3.7 percent, according to the state Department of Labor. By the end of the year, the unemployment rate skyrocketed to 8.2 percent.

Connecticut's unemployment rate remained above 8 percent during the first three months of 2021, but the state's overall economy could see a boost this year, in part due the number of people who moved to the state during the pandemic, many from New York.

Yet even with an improvement in the economy this year, Connecticut's post-pandemic recovery could be slow, the Connecticut Mirror reported, due in part to the state not attracting information technology and other high-paying jobs as well as other states.

Connecticut suffered a similar slow recovery during the Great Recession from the end of 2007 to 2019. The state's personal income grew at 0.9 during the period, even though the national average was 2 percent personal income growth, according to the Pew report.

To view the complete Pew report, click here.