If it doesn't seem like your income is stretching as far, you're right.
Californians saw their incomes decline 0.8% in the first quarter, reports the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
It was the second consecutive quarter Californians saw less money in their pockets. In the last three months of 2008 incomes fell 1.3%.
The decline was a little less painful if you look back over the whole year. Statewide incomes declined 0.2% from the first quarter of 2008 to the first quarter this year. That was boosted in the second quarter when many Americans got their income tax rebates.
Nationwide, incomes were down 0.5% in the first quarter after falling 0.4% in the last three months of 2008.
BLS analysts attribute the overall drop to job losses, lower interest rates, and smaller corporate dividend payments. The decline was moderated by rising unemployment insurance benefits for laid off workers, cost of living adjustments for retirees, and pay raises for government employees.
| Quarter | Q/Q change |
|---|---|
| Q1'08 | -0.1% |
| Q2'08 | 1.7% |
| Q3'08 | 0.2% |
| Q4'08 | -1.3% |
| Q1'09 | -0.8% |
California's first-quarter decline placed it 40th in the nation for the change in personal income. Hawaii ranked first, with a 0.8% increase thanks mostly to its large federal civilian and military sectors, says the BLS.
The worst decline was in Alaska, which saw personal income plummet 3.2% from the last quarter of 2008 to the first three months of 2009. But that was an anomaly because Alaskans received a special $2,000 per person payment from the state's Alaska Permanent Fund last year.
In terms of sectors, Californians in farming took the biggest hit, with personal income down 20.76%. Construction workers saw their incomes drop 5.95% and the finance sector fell 4.1%.
The big winners in California were military personnel, who saw their incomes increase 6.35% in the quarter. Federal government workers ranked second, up 5.36% and utility workers' pay rose 3.49.
Read the full report HERE.
Did you miss these other items on jobs and the economy ...
Reaganomics alive and well!
Your blaming the current economy on a dead prez?? Hey, why not blame Jimmy Carter while we're at it. He's the reason Reagan got elected.
Oh, but let's let 12 million illegal limmgrants have amnesty so they take more of our tax dollars and jobs. Makes perfect sense.
Illegals are the reason Calif. for the most part is going bankrupt. Just stroll by your local public school on your free time. All Illegals.
Some of those students are illegal, but many of them are the legal kids of illegal parents or grandparents.
They are still economic freeloaders. They are illegal.
Let's see if history repeats itself with the California Legislature. Income down, tax revenue down, how much new legislation will they draft to add more spending to the red ink budget?
Hmmm.......I am a state worker. My income has declined by 9.2%. My husband was laid off and has been out of work. Now they want to take even more from me. Yeah, I'd say it is pretty painful!
My income will be reduced by 8% when the UC system cuts our pay, My last "raise" was in October 2007, a whopping 3%.
Me - I hear you. I'm funded by private industry, but still the regents see fit to take my money away.
it's hilarious to see some of these comments complaining about getting raises...
you do know that you are working for someone else right? you can always go look for another job.
jealous?
Am I missing something? Who is complaining about getting raises?
Stu, PLEASE, this has NOTHING to do with Reaganomics. This is basic corruption in the democrat and republican parties.
You nailed it.
This is a good plan, solve a lot of problems & make a lot of people happy.
So why can't the government be as simple minded as me??
Sounds too easy..., retirement here I come!
Dear Mr. President,
Please find below my suggestion for fixing America 's economy. Instead
of giving billions of dollars to companies that will squander the money
on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan. You can
call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:
There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force. - Pay them
$1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the following
stipulations:
1) They MUST retire. Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed.
2) They MUST buy a new American CAR. Forty million cars ordered - Auto
Industry fixed.
3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage - Housing
Crisis fixed.
It can't get any easier than that!
P.S. If more money is needed, have all members in Congress and their
constituents pay their taxes...
If you think this would work, please forward to everyone you know. If
not, please disregard.
Can't buy a house they are still too expensive.
But, wouldn't that mean we would become socialists? Last I checked, this is a democracy.
Socialism is an economic policy, not a form of government. A democratic country can choose socialist economic policies.. And just for the record, we DO NOT live in a democracy, we live in a republic. Learn about the differences, they are key to understanding our country.
No Jules, common mistake. This is a Republic, Being run by a democratic majority!
sooo you propose spending $40 TRILLION dollars? heck, the worst bear estimates are less than half that to fix this whole broken economy thing.
Trickle Down Reagonomics Does Not Work!
Now its been tried twice. How long does it take the GOP to get it?
Duh! Taxes up! Incomes down! Paying almost 40% of gross income to taxes would certainly bring your income down. On the other hand, Living in Oregon (no state income tax) would cause a tax of 30% of gross income, but wait! There's more! There is no Oregon Sales Tax! So no 9.75% on what you buy!
I don't blame higher income (read that as TAXPAYERS) people leaving California and moving to a less taxed state. I would go but I don't have enough money due to taxes paid,
You got a good point. Other states have illegals, granted not as many as CA but they have lower populations than CA. So why can other states live within their means. Those idoits who keep saying we have the 7th larget economic strenght forget one thing....counties that make less have balanced budgets, why not California?
Other states don't have a high number of state employees with high salaries and benefits. They're not afraid to cut employees to meet their annual budgets. And ,when things are going well, they don't over staff the state employee rolls. Any surplus gained afterwords are given back to the tax payers. California will never give back any surplus, they will increase state employee benefits first.
Oregon does have income tax--I just left there because there's no jobs...
Oregon most certainly does have a personal income tax! It's true they have no sales tax, however.
Have you ever looked into Oregon property taxes? You may be surprised. They are significantly higher than California's. All states collect taxes, just in different forms.
So much for any near-term housing recovery - incomes continuing to decline certainly cannot support a floor to housing. .
Try telling that to a Real Estate agent.
Try telling that to Foolio,Gunner,Olivas Alone,Truthi,Provider, ad infinitum.
Oh my bad, you did say "real estate agent".
the funny part is their incomes in particular have fallen far more.....
.... and these numbers in this blog post are way under estimated..... mandatory unpaid leave is quite common these days, many companies have 1 - 4 weeks this year mandatory unpaid.... with 2 weeks or a couple days a month being quite common..... I expect this is not reflected in these numbers as their base pay might not have declined..... but such employees are seeing 2 - 8% pay decreases.... with furloughs expected to continue and or lay-offs... pay decreases, etc...
Problem is expenses. My gross income is steady, cost of goods, fuel, insurance, debt... all up 30+% since "05".
net loss of income 15+%