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Stephen Dunphy / Times staff columnist
Personal income fuels local economy

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Personal income grew in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area by 1.4 percent in 2002, below the 1.8 percent average for U.S. metropolitan areas of more than 1 million population.

When you think of personal income, think of fuel for the economy. It can be a good measure of economic performance, and income growth in 2002 indicates parts of the Puget Sound economy did better than others.

Nationally, metro areas with fewer than 250,000 people fared best, with personal income up 3.6 percent, according to a report released yesterday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Midsize areas also did better than the big metro areas, up 2.9 percent.

The fastest-growing area was Yuma, Ariz., where income was up 15.6 percent. The San Jose, Calif., area was the worst, with a 7 percent drop.

Highest per-capita income was in the Bridgeport-Stamford, Conn., area, essentially a New York City suburb, where average income was $59,906. Lowest was McAllen, Texas, near the Mexican border, with $14,769 per person.

The Puget Sound area's per-person income was $38,037, making it the 14th-highest metro area for personal income and 23 percent higher than the national average.

Small businesses provide much of the employment growth in the economy — at least that's the theory. Now data from SurePayroll, a Chicago payroll-outsourcing company for small business, lend some credibility to it.

The company found that in much of the country, small businesses added workers in the first quarter and reduced their use of temporary workers. Those findings were based on data from more than $2.5 billion in actual payments to employees and contractors.
 
Nationally, the small-business headcount grew by 2.3 percent, with the average small business at 5.55 employees in the first quarter compared with a year earlier. Small-business salaries grew by 2.2 percent, with the national average at $30,911.

In the first quarter of 2004, Washington's small-business headcount grew by 0.8 percent from a year earlier, to 5.04 employees. Small-business salaries grew by 3.7 percent here.

The Seattle-based Foundation for Russian American Economic Cooperation has signed an agreement with the Russian Federation for a marine customs processing system on cargo imported to Russia.

Customs clearance of marine cargo to Russia will be expedited through a software system, developed by the foundation in coordination with the Russia State Customs Committee. This system allows required shipping documents to be submitted electronically to Russian customs prior to cargo arrival.

Processing time in Russia is expected to be reduced up to 90 percent, saving trade partners significant time and costs.

Family business is big business. An update of a 1996 study with new tax and census information shows 24.2 million businesses in the United States where the owning family controls strategic direction and participates in the business — the broadest definition of a family business.

Businesses in the category account for 89 percent of all business tax returns, employ 62 percent of the nation's work force and account for 64 percent of gross domestic product.

Stephen H. Dunphy's columns appear Tuesdays-Fridays and Sundays. Phone: 206-464-2365. Fax: 206-382-8879. E-mail: sdunphy@seattletimes.com. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists