Three Years into National Economic Recovery, Wide Variation Exists in Jobs Recovered

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J – A new Rutgers Regional Report, “Employment Recession and Recovery in the 50 States: An Update,” authored by Joseph J. Seneca, university professor and economist at Rutgers University’s Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, and Will Irving, research associate, ranks the 50 states by the percentage of the Great Recession’s private-sector job losses that have been recovered as of June 2012.  

The number of jobs lost and the number of jobs recovered are measured from each state’s specific employment peak and trough. This provides a precise and appropriate way to measure the size and duration of the recession’s impact on employment in each state and the extent of each state’s recovery from its recession’s losses.

As of June 2012, a full three years into the recovery, only five states – North Dakota, Alaska, Texas, Louisiana, and New York – have regained all their private-sector job losses from the recession, according to Seneca. The report also ranks the 50 states by the extent of losses in state and local government employment that have occurred from each state’s peak level of its public sector employment.

The Rutgers Regional Report is published by the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. “Employment Recession and Recovery in the 50 States: An Update” is available here.