New data on personal income by state for the second quarter show an increase of 0.8% in Arkansas, compared to 0.9 for the United States.  Over the past four quarters, income has expanded 3.1% in Arkansas and 4.1% nationwide.  Today’s report also included a sharp downward revision to first-quarter income growth for Arkansas:  Originally reported at 1.0%, first quarter growth is now reported to have been only 0.2%.

Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis

The table below reports growth rates for some of the major components of personal income.  For both Arkansas and the U.S., farm income contributed negatively.  On a year-over-year basis, farm income in Arkansas was down 17.7%, although that is a smaller decline than the 34.7% drop for the U.S.  Arkansas Proprietors’ income was flat in the second quarter and was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis.  However, that component of income had previously shown much higher growth in Arkansas than for the nation as a whole:  From 2010:Q2 to 2015:Q2, proprietors’ income in Arkansas was up by a total of 56.1% (9.3% annual rate).  For the same five-year period, U.S. proprietors’ income rose 34.1% (6.0% annual rate).

Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis

The breakdown of earnings by industry shows strengths and weaknesses in Arkansas that mirror the national averages.   Earnings growth was negative in Farming, Forestry & Fishing, and particularly in Mining.  Durable goods manufacturing was negative as well.  Most of the earnings growth was attributable to a subset of service-providing sectors.

Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis