N.H. third-quarter income grew slowly

In the third quarter of 2011, New Hampshire’s personal income grew by 0.2 percent — not nearly as strong as last quarter’s gains but still double the national average.Each quarter, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes state-by-state data of personal income, which it defines as the income received by all persons in the state from all sources.Nationally, personal income grew by just 0.1 percent, down from 1.1 percent growth in the second quarter and 2.1 percent in the first.New Hampshire’s personal income grew to $60.06 billion in the third quarter of 2011, a 0.2 percent increase from the $59.97 billion recorded in the second quarter. That’s a 4.1 percent gain from the third quarter of 2010, when personal income in the Granite State totaled $57.72 billion.Still, the gains the state made in the third quarter don’t come close to the gains of the first and second quarters of 2011, when personal income increased 2.3 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.When broken down by industry, the bureau said the biggest earnings decline was in the information industry, which decreased nationally by 2.4 percent. Among other factors, that drop reflected the August strike of Verizon by 45,000 telecommunications workers that lasted two weeks. In New Hampshire, information earnings declined by 2.5 percent.Nationally, the industries with the biggest gains in personal income were administrative services (which includes temporary staffing agencies) at 1.5 percent, followed by health care and educational services, which both increased 1.4 percent.At the state level, New Hampshire saw the biggest earnings gains in health care, at 1.6 percent growth, administrative services, at 1.2 percent, and science, professional and technical services at 1.1 percent.The state’s biggest decreases by industry were in construction — which fell 0.6 percent from the previous quarter — and state and local government, which decreased by 0.3 percent. — KATHLEEN CALLAHAN/NEW HAMPSHIRE BUSINESS REVIEW