[Gastonleruanich]

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/08/11/295...0-billion.html

Californians' income falls for first time since WWII

By Mark Glover and Darrell Smith

Published: Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 1A
Last Modified: Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2010 - 11:27 am

Government statisticians have put a number on Californians' paycheck pain last year: about $40 billion.

The federal Bureau of Economic Analysis said personal incomes of Golden State workers fell by that amount in 2009 compared with the previous year – the state's first year-to-year decline since World War II. In the Sacramento region, income was off about $800 million.

The bureau said 2009 income statewide totaled $1.56 trillion, down about 2.5 percent from $1.6 trillion in 2008. The 2009 level also came in just under the 2007 total.

California's decline was a third more than the national 1.8 percent personal income drop, reflecting the relative intensity of the state's recession.

State Department of Finance officials on Tuesday broke out bureau numbers for the Sacramento-Arden Arcade-Roseville region, showing personal income of about $85.6 billion in 2009, down about 1 percent from nearly $86.4 billion in 2008.

The numbers came as no surprise to analysts, state government officials and job industry professionals, given double-digit statewide unemployment and sagging industry segments throughout the California last year.