James S. Wood / Arizona Daily Star 2007

Related articles:

AZ personal income rises slowlyPersonal income grows slowly in Arizona

Other articles by Howard Fischer:

Governor drops builders from tax plan Redistricting advocates drop initiative Arizona abortion providers might increase Governor calls for boost of 1 cent in state sales taxState panel OKs new standards for greenhouse-gas emissions Coalition pushing tax for roads Theaters win round on accessLegislator wants eased rules on using teen labor Expert: Tougher pollution rules will cost more but are worth it Ruling sought that $40.6M is too little for ELL program

Driver/Transportation
Pioneer Landscaping
Drivers/End-Dumps Health Care
Visiting Angels
Caregivers General
Big State
Sell construction tools and supplies nation wide. General
Chapel Haven West
Program Staff Sales and Marketing
Xentel
Business & Residential Callers Trades/Construction
arizona portland cement
maintenance electrician Dental
Dr. John Carson, DDS, PC
Dental Asst/Treatment Coordinator

Personal income in Arizona rose slower between 2006 and 2007 than in any other state.

New figures from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Estimates put per capita income last year — total income divided by population — at $33,029. That is up just 3.4 percent from the prior year, which is a lower rate than in any other state and compares to a 5.2 percent increase nationwide.

The result is that Arizona has slipped one notch, to 40th in the nation, in personal income. In 2000, the state was ranked 37th.

Figures for individual communities will be available later this year.

Economists said some of the slide is attributable to the fact that much of Arizona's population growth includes children and teens who are not in the workforce: They don't bring in any money but are part of the computation of per capita income.

But that doesn't explain all of it.

Some of the relatively slow growth likely can be attributed to the fact that the job growth in Arizona has been in jobs that pay below the national average.

That is backed up by the state's own statistics of what jobs pay, a figure that takes into account only those people who actually are working: Between 2005 and 2006 — later figures are not yet available — the average wage of hourly workers went up just 3.6 percent. And the increase for salaried workers posted a 3.7 percent gain.

And some of it simply comes down to the fact that Arizonans are willing to work for less, as new migrants from the East take part of their pay in sunshine.