There are Only Five States Where the Unemployment Rate is Lower than it was When the Recession Started

In this Friday, Aug. 17, 2012 file photo, Sheila Bird, right, waits in line for employment interviews at a job fair at City Target in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)

Hunter Schwarz, THE WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON (The Washington Post)—For the first time in six years, unemployment has fallen below 6 percent, according to data released last week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Still, only five states’ unemployment levels have fallen below where they were when the recession began.

Minnesota’s unemployment is 1.1 percent lower that when the recession started in December 2007, while in North Dakota, Michigan, Ohio, and Alaska, levels are between .4 and .8 percent lower.

The states with the largest percentage unemployment increases are New Mexico, Georgia, Alabama and Maryland, all more than 3 percent above their December 2007 figures.

“This is not like any other recovery,” John Herrman, director of U.S. rate strategy at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities USA Inc., told Bloomberg Businessweek. “There is a tremendous disparity, not a uniform recovery at all, with the performance of the economy much more skewed on a regional basis.”
READ MORE

###