Also, with the introduction of automated teller machines and on-line banking sites, these fewer banks are able to service wider areas. With service capabilities still increasing the banking industry looks to become even more consolidated. West Virginia personal income grew by 1.7 percent in the third quarter, compared to 1.3 percent nationally. Third quarter results for West Virginia were far better than gains posted in the first and second quarters. National growth from the third quarter of 1998 to the third quarter of 1999 was 5.6 percent, while West Virginia personal income growth during that period was just 3.6 percent.
All growth rates reflect income before adjustment for inflation.
Despite the strong economic growth and tight labor markets of recent years, income disparities in most states are significantly greater in the late 1990s than they were during the 1980s, according to a new analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute. In two-thirds of the states, the gap in incomes between the top 20 percent of families and the bottom 20 percent of families grew between the late 1980s and the late 1990s. Today's Charleston Gazette reports on a State Tax Department briefing yesterday in which tax officials indicate that WV will be passed by Mississippi on per capita income in the next several years.