Good news about personal income and the consumer price index throughout the United States and Alaska.

• Author: Pemberton, Jocelyn
• Position: Alaska Trends for December 2005

The Bureau of Economic Analysis defines personal income as the income received by all persons from all sources; personal income is measured before the deduction of personal income taxes and other personal taxes and is reported in current dollars.

In the second quarter of 2004, the personal income in the United States was $9,093,138 billion, compared to $10,225,957 billion in the second quarter 2005. This growth indicates an almost 12.5 percent increase in personal income throughout the United States. Consistent with this growth, personal income in the U.S. increased 1.5 percent over the last quarter reported, first-quarter 2005 to second-quarter 2005, from $10,071,063 billion to $10,225,957 billion.

We also saw an increase in the personal income in Alaska. Second-quarter 2004 personal income was $21.5 billion, compared to $23.6 billion in the second quarter 2005. This growth in personal income suggests an almost 10 percent increase throughout Alaska. There was a 1.5 percent growth over the last quarter reported, first-quarter 2005 to second-quarter 2005, from $23.3 billion to $23.6 billion.

The Consumer Price Index also has increased, but at a much lower rate than personal income. The CPI is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. In the first half of 2004, the CPI for Anchorage was 165.6 and increased to 169.6 in the first half of 2005. This means that prices have only increased about 4 percent in the last year in Anchorage, compared to the United States, which has seen a 5.6 percent increase in prices over the last year. For more information, visit the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Web site at www.bls.gov.

SOURCE: WWW.BEA.GOV AND WWW.BLS.GOV

Consumer Prices Anchorage United States 1st Half 04 165.6 187.6 2nd Half 04 167.8 190.2 1st Half 05 193.2 169.6 Note: Table made from bar graph. ALASKA TRENDS FOR DECEMBER 2005 Indicator Units Period GENERAL Personal Income--Alaska Millions of $ 2ndQ05 Personal Income--United States Billions of $ (SAAR) 2ndQ05 Consumer Prices--Anchorage 1982-1984 = 100 1H05 Consumer Prices--United States 1982-1984 = 100 1H05 Bankruptcies Alaska Total Number Filed August Alaska Business Only Number Filed August Anchorage Total Number Filed August Anchorage Business Only Number Filed August Fairbanks Total Number Filed August Fairbanks Business Only Number Filed August EMPLOYMENT Alaska Thousands July Anchorage Thousands July Fairbanks Thousands July Southeast Thousands July Gulf Coast Thousands July Sectoral Distribution--Alaska Total Nonfarm Wage & Salary Thousands July...