Are Utahns making more money? New data shows they're probably not

Personal income in Utah rose last quarter by 1.10 percent to $98.3 billion, following a national trend of slowing growth in the nation, according to a report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis released Tuesday.

The nation’s personal income growth rate dropped .7 percentage points to 1.01 percent in the second quarter of 2012, according to the report. Growth slowed in 39 states, including Massachusetts, Indiana and California.

Utah's personal income growth fell .78 percentage points from 1.88 percent since last year.

Some states, like Montana, saw growth rates drop as much as 1.86 percentage points.

Nearly all employment sectors in Utah fell in growth rates in the second quarter, with total private nonfarm compensation slowing by 1.11 percentage points.

The information sector in Utah, which includes telecommunications, Internet service providers, data processing and software publishing, slowed the most in the state, according to BEA data.

The sector’s personal income growth fell by 10.36 percentage points to $2.36 billion.

Construction growth in Utah ground to a halt, posting no change in personal income from the previous quarter.

Though Utah’s growth is slowing with the nation, the state saw a 4.8 percent increase in personal income since 2011.

Not all sectors are slowing in the state.

The real estate, rental and leasing sector grew 2.38 percent to $1.36 billion.

“Most of the growth in construction and nondurable goods manufacturing industries was concentrated in just two or three states,” the Bureau of Economic Analysis said in a statement. “Construction earnings grew $1.54 billion (2.6 percent) in Texas and $0.23 billion (2.5 percent) in Arizona in the second quarter, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the national $2.75 billion gain.”

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