Most of income growth in US was in energy producing states

Fuel Fix:

High crude prices for most of 2014 helped oil producing states outpace the rest of the country in personal income growth for their workers last year, according to data released Wednesday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Crude oil prices grew for the first six months of 2014, hitting their peak in June at $107. That helped boost the economies of states like Alaska and North Dakota, where the oil and gas industry are big employers and help bolster state budgets.

Incomes in Alaska grew 5.7 percent over 2013, the fastest rate in the country. The next four states — Oregon, North Dakota, Colorado and Texas — all saw incomes grow about 5.6 percent. Income growth in these states was more than four times the rate of inflation, and almost two percentage points greater than the U.S. average of 3.9 percent.

The collapse in crude prices that started in September of last year didn’t appear to drag down incomes with it — at least in Texas and North Dakota, where incomes grew the fastest in the fourth quarter at 1.5 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.
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Louisiana and Oklahoma lagged the other energy producing states in income growth.   With the significant layoffs in the energy business since the drop in oil prices, it is unlikely that the states will see that kind of growth in 2015 unless something happens to boost the price.  With the current glut, the chances of a price recovery are remote unless turmoil in the Middle East worsens to the point that oil production suffers.

The offshore energy sector has not experienced the kind of layoffs seen the the shale prospects.