Economic expansion progressing in 46 states

Economic activity expanded in forty-six states in the three months through June, which is persistent enough to assure that a sustained recovery is underway, according to research by Reed Construction Data.

The rise in the state economic activity indexes is consistent with national data for jobs, consumer spending and factory production which have all improved since the beginning of the year. The expansion weakened in June based on early reports for jobs and consumer spending, specifically over 140,000 people laid off from temporary 2010 Census work. This may drop a few states back into recession conditions during the summer.

The growth rates are the state economic growth indexes calculated by the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank from state employment and income data which are benchmarked to approximately track national GDP growth. State growth rates are below the national growth rate. Most of the 1st quarter gain in GDP and a large share of expected GDP growth in the second quarter were due to reduced inventory absorption. This data is not available at the state level.

Read the entire report here.