The recession is over, but not forgotten. Though America has officially completed more than eight months of economic recovery, the U.S. Labor Department recently reported that average annual unemployment rates in thirty six states plus the District of Columbia in twenty fifteen were higher than the average unemployment rate for those states in two thousand and seven.
Maryland is one of these states. In two thousand and seven, Maryland’s unemployment rate averaged three point five percent. Last year, it stood at five point two percent. The good news is that unemployment continues to crawl lower in much of the nation. According to the Labor Department, average annual jobless rates declined in twenty fifteen from the prior year in forty seven states and in the District of Columbia.
Only North Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming, three natural resource intensive states impacted disproportionately by declining commodity prices, failed to experience reductions in unemployment last year. In twenty fourteen, unemployment declined in every state and in the District of Columbia for the first time since nineteen eighty four. As reported in the Wall Street Journal, the job market’s recovery remains incomplete at the national level as well.
