Figures released this week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that employment fell in five states over the last year. In only two states are there now more jobs than there were when employment peaked before the recession and credit crisis caused the sharpest decline in national employment since the Great Depression.

The accompanying charts rank the states by three measures of employment change. The first shows how much employment has grown since the job figures hit their low points for the downturn. The second compares current employment with peak levels before 2009, and the final one shows how employment levels changed in the 12 months through November.

One fact that stands out is how far employment has fallen in some of the same states where the residential real estate prices rose the most during the boom and fell the most during the bust. Florida, Arizona and Nevada are three of the four states where employment is more than 9 percent lower than it was at the peak. The other is Michigan, where the auto industry’s long decline made the state an underperformer during both boom and bust.

But over the last 12 months, each of those states has performed at or above the national average, with Michigan’s gain of 1.5 percent the best of the group.

The fact that so many jobs vanished in states where homeowners are most likely to be under water, owing more than their homes are worth, is probably hampering the recovery. It is homeowners in such areas who normally would be most likely to move to areas with better job prospects, but it is also such homeowners who are least likely to be able to afford to move.

North Dakota and Alaska, two small states with oil, are the only ones with more jobs now than at the pre-downturn peak. The District of Columbia, home of the normally recession-resistant federal government, is also up. But over the last 12 months, the district has lagged other areas in job growth, as budgetary pressures have increased. Alaska lost jobs over the period, but North Dakota continued to show the fastest job growth in the country.

Over all, government employment has been a drag on recovery. Nationally, there are fewer people working in state and local government jobs than at any time since 2006. Private sector employment is up 2.8 percent since the low, but the decline in government workers has held the overall gain to only 1.9 percent.

Nowhere is that impact more evident than in Georgia. Private sector employment has grown at a slightly slower pace than the national average, but government employment has fallen rapidly. Over the last 12 months, local governments there have shed 3 percent of their work force, while state government employment is down 6 percent. Over all, Georgia now has virtually the same number of jobs as it did when the economy hit bottom.

North Dakota ranks No. 1 in all three measures. Three other oil-producing states — Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma — are also in the top 10 on each list. On the other end, Georgia is joined by Alabama, Delaware and Rhode Island in ranking in the bottom 10 by each measure.

Floyd Norris comments on finance and the economy at nytimes.com/economix.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=52e280813872e7880859edbdb9065116