Slight Income Growth

"Mainers' personal incomes grew 0.8 percent, slightly below the national average, during the first three months of the year, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said Thursday.

The first-quarter growth rate in Maine matched the rate of growth in the last three months of 2007. It was also slightly below the national increase in personal incomes of 1.1 percent.

'It's entirely consistent with the economic pattern that we've seen,' said Charles Colgan, an economist and professor at the University of Southern Maine.

Colgan said that, in general, personal incomes follow the economy, unless there's something unusual about the labor market. Maine's unemployment rate has risen in recent months, so there's no upward pressure on wages, he said.

Colgan is expecting very modest growth in the economy in the second half of the year.

Health care and social assistance continued to be the industry sector contributing the most to personal income growth, accounting for 0.16 percentage points of the 0.8 percent increase.

The biggest drag was from the construction industry, where personal income declines took 0.07 percentage points off the total growth."

- Portland Press Herald