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Map of the Week
30 May 06
When Will U.S. States Return to Peak Employment Levels?
As can be seen on the map below, a fair number of states bounced back from the recession rather quickly. Much of the West and Southwest saw payrolls return to pre-2001 levels by 2004. These (light blue) states can generally be divided into two categories. The first are those that were fairly isolated from the recession to begin with, because they did not have high concentrations of employment in the hardest-hit sectors such as high tech—North and South Dakota and Maine are examples of this category. The second category contains states whose booming economies helped them recover employment very quickly—these include Florida, Texas, and Nevada. 
In the middle of the range are states that have recently or are currently returning to pre-recession employment levels. Many of these states (in green and yellow on the map) have economies that were growing only modestly before the recession, and continue to grow modestly now. California is the exception, of course; the heavy hit that it took from the tech bust seriously dampened its economic momentum. Many of the states in this middle range have also struggled with high concentrations of manufacturing employment—such as North and South Carolina—which has been on an inexorable decline, hurting total employment growth. On the outer edges of employment recovery are states that are still struggling. Often these states have suffered from an exceptional battering, such as New York (the September 11 attacks), Michigan (huge losses in the automotive sector), and Mississippi (the effects of Katrina on an already-weak economy). They are also states that are lagging the transition away from a manufacturing-intensive economy. Massachusetts has suffered the double whammy of losses in its high-tech and finance sectors due to the recession and the ongoing problem of a declining manufacturing sector.
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