A picture may not be worth 1,000 words, but graphs on various aspects of Delaware’s economy can quickly and efficiently provide a bird’s eye view of conditions to busy businesspersons. The explanations behind the trends in conditions require a bit more digging and insight.
Following is the first in a series of graphs that summarize trends in Delaware’s economy..
The graphs show the trend in earnings across Delaware’s major retail industries through two business cycles (gray shaded rectangles). The trends are all shown relative to Delaware personal income (DE PY). All the data is adjusted to 1998 as a base year, so each subsequent year is simply the absolute amount as a percent of the base year (e.g., 140 represents a 40% increase over the base year).
Due to the absence of a sales tax, per capita retail sales in Delaware are well above the U.S. and surrounding states. Retail trade accounts for almost 12% of all jobs in the First State.
The performance of the earnings of Delaware’s retail industries fall into three distinct groups with regard to the most recent recession: No Recovery, Modest Rebound, and Relatively Steady.
