GSI Analysis: Personal Income Report – While Federal Payments Boost Income, Wages Fall for NJ Workers in 2020

• In 2020 overall wages and self-employment income in NJ decline as U.S. posts slight gain

• Overall gain in income in 2020 a result of federal aid payments

• Q4 data shows NJ ranked 44th for income growth as impact of federal aid faded

On March 24th, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released the State Annual Personal Income, 2020 (Preliminary) and State Quarterly Personal Income, 4th Quarter 2020. Dr. Charles Steindel, former Chief Economist of the State of New Jersey and current Resident Scholar, Anisfield School of Business at Ramapo College, analyzed the report for the Garden State Initiative:

“New Jersey’s personal income for 2020 looked superficially good. Our gain of 6.8% for the year as a whole was higher than the national increase of 6.1%, and ranked 17th in the nation. However, when we look at the portion of personal income earned from work–wages and self-employment income–a very different picture emerges, with New Jersey seeing an outright decline of more than 1% (1.2%), while the nation saw a small increase (0.3%).

New Jersey’s 2020 income was massively supported by a huge increase in transfer payments (unemployment insurance and all the other benefits associated with the CARES Act); this of course occurred elsewhere but was especially large here. When we look at income growth from the third to fourth quarters of 2020–as opposed to the full year–New Jersey ranked a dismal 44th, as the fading out of the federal relief hit harder here than elsewhere.”

On Friday, March 26th, the Bureau of Economic Analysis will be releasing its report for Gross Domestic Product by State, 4th Quarter and Year 2020.

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