Newly released state figures show that Washington state's economy finished 2007 strong, with gross business income growing by 13.3 percent, to a total of $173 billion in the fourth quarter, an increase of $20 billion over the same quarter the year before.

We keep saying that Boeing and Microsoft are keeping Puget Sound out of a recession, and the numbers bear that out: Aerospace manufacturing revenues increased 9.5 percent, an $876 million increase; and software revenues grew nearly 20 percent, an $85 million increase. E-commerce also grew 38 percent (hello Amazon.com), to $3 billion.

East of the mountains, there were across-the-board gains for all aspects of agriculture:

• Farm-gate revenue for crop and animal producers grew 41 percent, or $89 million.
• Revenue for food processors grew 22.5 percent, or $487 million. The biggest gains came for dairy (up 99 percent) and meat processors (up 92 percent); there were declines in fruit and vegetables (down 3.6 percent) and seafood (down 2.6 percent, despite the popularity of Deadliest Catch.)
• Revenues for pesticide and fertilizer dealers jumped 34 percent, which likely reflects in part the big price run-ups for the petroleum and natural gas used to manufacture them (more on that later)

We had a 47 percent gain for aluminum smelters (up $165 million), driven by the high demand from aerospace, and also perhaps shipbuilders, who - as we discussed in the recent Skagit County report - are doing well, with revenues up 24 percent, or $87 million.

On the other hand, there were broad losses in the finance sector, which sustained a cool $840 million decline in revenues. Banks and credit unions took the biggest hit, a $600 million loss, nearly 12 percent. Real estate revenues dropped $125 million, or 10 percent.

However, construction activity continued growing by double-digit margins. Construction companies in all sectors reported an additional $1.8 billion in revenue. Nonresidential construction was up 15.8 percent, heavy construction (like highways) was up 16.5 percent, and residential construction and remodeling was up 18.2 percent.

Health care revenues increased by 23 percent, to $8 billion. Hospitals picked up an additional $282 million in revenues, up 14 percent. But there also was huge growth in the category that includes outpatient, home health and outsourced laboratory services. Those companies grew revenues by a whopping 85 percent, an additional $953 million.

Now about those gas prices. Petroleum refinery revenues were up more than 40 percent, or $1.45 billion. That's not shocking, when you consider that the average price of a gallon of gas in Seattle climbed 22.8 percent over the past year. However, revenues for retail gasoline dealers increased by 18.8 percent. That means we were using less gasoline.

Finally, the strangest stat of all: retail spending on shoes fell 12 percent in the quarter - more than $13 million - even though overall revenue for sellers of apparel and accessories was up 5.9 percent.