Recession Cost 22 States Few Jobs, Study Finds

Despite severe job losses in New York, New England and California, many states survived the national recession largely unscathed on the employment front, a new study found.

Twenty-two states had little job loss during the recession, according to the report by the State University of New York’s Center for the Study of the States.

Of the 10 states hardest hit by the recession in terms of job loss, eight were in the Northeast. The two others were Maryland and California.

Twelve states--led by Idaho, Louisiana and Colorado--had employment losses of less than 0.5% as measured from pre-recession peak employment levels to their low points, the study found.

That was far from the case for the big losers. Massachusetts suffered a 12.4% job loss; Connecticut, 12.2%; Rhode Island, 11.3%; New Hampshire, 10.8%; New Jersey, 8.6%; New York, 7.2%; Maine, 7.0%; Vermont, 6.4%; Maryland, 5.7%, and California, 5.1%.

The smallest job declines came in Idaho, 0.1%.