First Quarter Personal Income Estimates Released

The BEA released the first quarter estimates for South Carolina personal income levels today. As you can see from the graph below, this is the slowest year/year growth we've seen since q110. Though it's certainly not a promising start for the year, it's also not entirely unexpected. Much of this slowdown is the result of the 2% payroll tax increase that went into effect on January 1st.

South Carolina Higher Education Trends

The Lumina Foundation released a report last week claiming that the national pace of college attainment is not enough to meet future workforce needs. According to this new report, South Carolina experienced a minor decline over the last year (of 0.6 percentage points) in the number of working-age adults (25-64 years old) who hold a two- or four-year degree.

National Builder Confidence on the Rise

As you can see here, a majority of home builders report being optimistic about sales activity for the first time in seven years.