Idaho's personal income: First quarter 2015 sees slight dip

Idaho's personal income showed very little change during the first quarter of 2015 and dropped by a tenth of a percentage point to $62.76 billion.

The dip comes after four consecutive quarters of growth, including an increase of nearly 2 percent between the third and fourth quarters of 2014.

Nationwide, average state personal income for Q1 2015 increased by less than 1 percent, according to figures released earlier this month by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Personal income refers to an individual's total earnings from wages, investment enterprises and other ventures, and reflects the sum of all incomes actually received by all individuals or households during a given period. The three components that make up personal income include dividends, interest and rent; net earnings and transfer receipts.

For Idaho, a $323 million increase in transfer receipts and a $94 million increase in property income - dividends, interest and rent - were not enough to offset a mostly seasonal $500 million drop in net earnings, edging the state's personal income down slightly from $62.8 million for the last three months of 2014 to $62.76 million for the first three months of 2015.

Many private sector Idaho industries showed earning increases, but on a seasonally adjusted basis, earnings by place of work were down by just over 1 percent during the first three months of 2015. Construction, utilities, accommodations and food service, and management of companies and enterprises all showed gains of more than 2 percent, but it was not enough to offset a seasonal decline in farm earnings of 18 percent followed by significant declines in durable goods at 10 percent and mining at nearly 3.8 percent.

Nationally, farm earnings dropped by 22 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Other Idaho industries showing net-earning growth rates above 1 percent include health care and social assistance; natural resources; professional, scientific and technical services; nondurables; wholesale trade; retail trade; real estate rental and leasing; information, administration and waste management; and federal government operations.

Finance and insurance, education, arts and entertainment, and state and local government all showed earned income increases of less than 1 percent.

Investment earnings - dividends, interest and rent - increased by $94 million or just less than 1 percent over the fourth quarter of 2014.

Idaho transfer payments - retirement and Social Security benefits, medical benefits (mainly Medicare and Medicaid), income maintenance benefits, unemployment insurance, veterans' benefits and federal education and training assistance - increased by 2.8 percent, due largely to a 1.7 percent cost-of-living adjustment for social security benefits.

Nationally, current transfer receipts increased by 2.1 percent, the largest increase in five years.

All of these numbers are estimates and subject to revision. An annual revision of state personal income accounts will be released along with estimates for 2Q 2015 on Sept. 30.