Gov. Justice: Personal income up $3 BILLION in West Virginia

CHARLESTON, WV – Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) issued their Q2 2019 state personal income growth rate numbers. Included in this release was a revision to their Q1 2019 numbers for West Virginia’s personal income growth rate, revising the rate downward from 5.6 percent to 1.5 percent. After learning of this revision, Gov. Jim Justice directed officials with the State Department of Revenue to dig deeper into the numbers. The findings are as follows:

• Our numbers show that we are still growing in West Virginia like we’ve never seen before.
• In the same quarter that was revised today by the BEA – Q1 2019 – our personal income withholding was up 5.7 percent from the prior year.
• Historical trends indicate that, in West Virginia, we had at least a 5 percent growth rate in wages and salaries for Q1 2019.
• The BEA revises their personal income growth numbers on a regular basis.

West Virginia was #1 in the nation for Q3 2018, even after the latest BEA revisions.

• Total personal income in West Virginia increased by approximately $3 BILLION from Q2 2018 to Q2 2019.
• And right now our personal income growth remains positive, with a 4 percent growth rate in Q2 2019.
• In years past, a growth rate of 4 percent would represent one of West Virginia's best quarterly performances.
• West Virginia per capita personal income grew by nearly 5.8 percent between 2017 and 2018, from $38,644 to $40,873. During this span, West Virginia ranked 6th-highest among all 50 states and D.C.

West Virginia’s total revenue grew by $511 million during Fiscal Year 2019: the greatest single-year growth in state history.

• There was more total revenue growth in FY2019 alone than West Virginia experienced in all of FY2007 to FY2017 combined.

In addition, the unemployment rate in West Virginia for the month of August was the best seen in the state in 11 years.

“West Virginians deserve to be congratulated for these numbers,” Gov. Justice said. “We are really moving in the right direction. There’s still a lot more to do, but we’re on it.”