The following state economic growth maps reflects a 3 month running coincident indexes that combine four state-level indicators to summarize current economic conditions in a single statistic. The four state-level variables in each coincident index are nonfarm payroll employment, average hours worked in manufacturing, the unemployment rate, and wage and salary disbursements deflated by the consumer price index (U.S. city average). The trend for each state’s index is set to the trend of its gross domestic product (GDP), so long-term growth in the state’s index matches long-term growth in its GDP.

The maps cover state growth beginning with January and ending with March. Unfortunately, the maps had to be reduced to fit the blog making the legend unreadable. Therefore, the following legend defines the values represented by each of the colors. To see an enlarged version of a Philadelphia Federal Reserve State Incident Map, click on the map.

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, 2008.