Idaho growth rates revised downward 

The pace of Idaho’s real economic growth in 2006 was significantly reduced by the U. S. Bureau of Economic Analysis on June 5, the Idaho Department of Labor said in a release. Idaho’s growth estimate for 2007 was even slower despite record low unemployment. The bureau estimated Idaho’s real gross state product, adjusted for inflation, grew by just 2.4 percent last year. That followed a revision of the 2006 growth rate to 2.5 percent, down from the original estimate a year ago of a nation-leading 7.4 percent.

Nationally, real gross domestic product growth slowed to 2 percent in 2007 after rising 3.1 percent in 2006.

The drastic reduction in Idaho’s gross domestic product for 2006 dropped the state’s ranking from first to 28th, and the state’s 2.4 percent growth rate in 2007 ranked 16th, state labor officials said. Total real gross state product last year was $44.7 million. In unadjusted terms, the gross state product totaled $51.1 billion.

Strength in the manufacture of durable goods, which accounted for nearly 40 percent of the growth from 2006 to 2007, along with moderate expansion in real estate, health care, retail trade, professional and business services, and agriculture more than offset a sharp decline in construction, the Idaho Department of Labor said.

The revision of the 2006 figures came despite a period of strong job growth, declining unemployment and rising wages. The Bureau of Economic Analysis slashed more than $1.6 billion from its original estimate of Idaho’s real gross state product, turning what was initially substantial growth in manufacturing into a decline from 2005.

More modest increases in agriculture and mining were also revised to reflect declines, and substantial gains in retail trade, construction and real estate were scaled back significantly, Idaho labor officials said.

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