KENTUCKY RANKS 10TH IN PERCENTAGE CHANGE IN PER CAPITA INCOME

Dear Colleague,

Personal income data is the ultimate measure of economic development performance. It measures the economic well being of the residents of a state or community. The US Department of Commerce defines personal income as the current income received by individual workers and owners of unincorporated firms, non-profit institutions that primarily serve individuals, private trust funds, and private non-insured welfare funds. It divides income into two broad categories:

• Earned income includes wages and salary disbursements, employer contributions to privately administered pension and welfare funds, and current income from sole proprietorships and partnerships;
• Unearned income includes investment income and transfer payments for which no current services are performed.

Earned income is an indicator of both the number of jobs in the community and the wage rate paid to workers in those jobs. Unearned investment income is a measure of wealth in the community. Transfer payments measure a community's dependence on social welfare.

Attached, you will find a chart from the December 2003 issue of Trends Newsletter, which is written by M. Ross Boyle and focuses on economic and demographic trends. As you will notice from the enclosed chart, Kentucky ranked 10th in % of change in per capita income from 2001 to 2002. You will also notice that the U.S. average for personal income gain was 2.5% and the U.S. per capita income grew by 1.4%, compared to Kentucky's 3.7% and 3.1% respectively.

I am pleased to share this good news of Kentucky's continuous progress in economic development. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Respectfully,

Marvin E. Strong, Jr.

Secretary

Attachment (1) - MS Word (DOC) Format

The Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development is the primary state agency in Kentucky responsible for creating new jobs and new investment in the state. New business investment in Kentucky in 2002 totaled more than $3.2 billion with the creation of nearly 13,000 new jobs. Information on available development sites, workforce training, incentive programs, community profiles, small business development and other resources is available at www.thinkkentucky.com.