For many Americans, especially the almost 16 million out of work, merely mentioning the word “recovery” can make the blood boil. And yet, amid the persistent job losses, tight credit, and looming foreclosures, the economy’s pulse is beginning to pick up. It’s very faint still, as if the patient is in the emergency room and nobody is sure when she’ll get better.
As of the new data from September, 100 metro areas—or nearly one in four across the country—have started to recover, according to the latest Adversity Index from Moody’s Economy.com. That’s up from 79 metro areas in mid July. They aren’t the biggest metro areas (none is in California or Florida, for example), nor are they the main drivers of the economy. But recovery has to begin somewhere, and the evidence from the past two months’ worth of data shows that a recovery may be spreading.
Each month, the Adversity Index uses government data on employment, industrial production, housing stats, and home prices to label each state or area as expanding, at risk of recession, in recession, or recovering. Out of 384 metro areas in the nation, 100 were in recovery, according to the September Adversity Index. A much larger group, 278 areas, had a “moderating recession,” meaning their economies were still shrinking but not so severely as earlier this year. That leaves six metro areas still spiraling downward in a recession.
Recovery doesn’t mean that an area’s economy is now above where it was at the beginning of the recession, just that the area has begun to dig its way out of the hole. It may be hard for many to believe that a recovery is beginning, with so much pain, particularly with high unemployment. Coming to grips with recession and recovery is a difficult task. Even after jobs begin to be added, it is expected to take another two years after that to recoup all those jobs lost. Recovery is often painful for the job market, especially when coming out of a recession of this magnitude.
Tags: bad credit, economy, job loss, job market, recession, recover job losses, road to recovery, unemployment
