JACKSON — Mississippi continues to have “sluggish” growth that trails the Southeast and the nation as a whole, state economist Darrin Webb told lawmakers Wednesday.
Webb said he expects data will show Mississippi’s economy grew about 1 percent in 2015 and he anticipates it will grow about 1.9 percent in 2016. The state economy was flat in 2014 and contracted in 2013.
“This is sluggish growth compared to the nation,” Webb said.
The U.S. had 2.4 percent growth last year — the same rate as in 2014 and slightly higher than in 2013.
Mississippi has been one of the poorest states in the nation for generations, and Webb said it has had slower growth than other states during the past 15 or 20 years.
He also said it is among 13 states that have not recovered the level of jobs lost during the Great Recession that started in 2008, despite a “resilient” manufacturing sector including automotive jobs at Nissan and Toyota plants.
The largest sector of job growth in Mississippi between 2014 and 2015 was in the leisure and hospitality category, which includes jobs with lower pay and fewer benefits.
Between 2010 and 2014, the national average for wage and salary growth was 8 percent. In Mississippi, the rate was 1.7 percent, and the state ranked fifth from the bottom. It was ahead of only West Virginia, Alabama, Virginia and New Mexico.
State Treasurer Lynn Fitch told lawmakers Wednesday that Mississippi is well below its constitutional debt limit. However, the state ranks 14th in the nation for tax-supported debt per person. In the past several years, she said Mississippi has been as high as ninth and as low as 34th in the ranking.
Fitch said credit agencies see Mississippi has having stable budget and financial operations, but they also see low education attainment and high poverty as challenges for the state.
Webb also said because of education and widespread health problems, “Mississippi does have limited human capital.”
Mississippi ranks second-highest in the nation, behind only West Virginia, in government benefits payments as a total share of personal income, and Webb said he sees that as a weakness in the state economy.
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