The Geography of a recession

[fencesitter]

interactive map: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/03/us/20090303_LEONHARDT.html?hp

Accompanying article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/business/04leonhardt.html?_r=1&hp

It is both deep and broad. Every state in the country, with the exception of a band stretching from the Dakotas down to Texas, is now shedding jobs at a rapid pace. And even that band has recently begun to suffer, because of the sharp fall in both oil and crop prices.

Unlike the last two recessions — earlier this decade and in the early 1990s — this one is causing much more job loss among the less educated than among college graduates. Those earlier recessions introduced the country to the concept of mass white-collar layoffs. The brunt of the layoffs in this recession is falling on construction workers, hotel workers, retail workers and others without a four-year degree.
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Interesting if you like demographics. Something worth noting is the least affected area of the country. It's that broad typically "red" area of states from Texas to Canada. Partly explains the opposition to stimulus spending from that republican constituancy. Now if you notice California, god help them.

[depakid]

1. Interesting maps- but they don't note long term unemployment

i.e. people who are now technically excluded from the labor force.

[Coyote_Bandit]

2. The lightest colors on that map

which travel from west Texas up to Canada fall in some rugged and sparsley populated areas of our country.

The economy in many of the metropolitan areas along that same path has been suffering for some time. Professional and high wage jobs left here years ago for an even larger metropolitan area. Energy sector jobs went to Houston. Aerospace jobs went to cities with hubs. Those jobs were replaced here by low wage call center jobs. Because we didn't have much of a housing bubble here we have not seen the same deterioration in home values. And, yes, there are a lot of long term unemployed folks here. And a lot of folks who years ago were forced to trade their $100k jobs for retail and service sector jobs.