The Associated Press | Posted: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 4:00 pm
Worsening economic conditions caused the nation to reach a bleak milestone in January: For the first time since The Associated Press began analyzing conditions in more than 3,100 U.S. counties nearly a year ago, the average county was found to be economically stressed.
Driving the pain was a deterioration in states that earlier had weathered the Great Recession better than the nation as a whole. These states endured the sharpest gains in unemployment for the past three months due to job losses in such industries as energy and construction. The states include West Virginia, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana and Wisconsin.
"What we're seeing is the state of West Virginia getting sucked into the same vortex that swallowed the national economy," said George Hammond, an economist at West Virginia University.
However, South Dakota remained the second least-stressed state on average in the nation.
North Dakota again was the least economically stressed state. Its score was 5.69. Next best were South Dakota (6.14), Nebraska (6.64), Vermont (8.03) and Hawaii (8.60).
The AP's Economic Stress Index found the average county's score in January was 11.9. That was sharply higher than the 10.8 reading in December, the previous high.
rest of story...Economic stress reaches bleak milestone, but S.D. better than most
Worsening economic conditions caused the nation to reach a bleak milestone in January: For the first time since The Associated Press began analyzing conditions in more than 3,100 U.S. counties nearly a year ago, the average county was found to be economically stressed.
Driving the pain was a deterioration in states that earlier had weathered the Great Recession better than the nation as a whole. These states endured the sharpest gains in unemployment for the past three months due to job losses in such industries as energy and construction. The states include West Virginia, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana and Wisconsin.
"What we're seeing is the state of West Virginia getting sucked into the same vortex that swallowed the national economy," said George Hammond, an economist at West Virginia University.
However, South Dakota remained the second least-stressed state on average in the nation.
North Dakota again was the least economically stressed state. Its score was 5.69. Next best were South Dakota (6.14), Nebraska (6.64), Vermont (8.03) and Hawaii (8.60).
The AP's Economic Stress Index found the average county's score in January was 11.9. That was sharply higher than the 10.8 reading in December, the previous high.
rest of story...Economic stress reaches bleak milestone, but S.D. better than most
