Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Friday 19 May 2017
9 years after recession began, some states still unrecovered

JEFF AMY is falling because of the
Associated Press economy,” said state
MERIDIAN, Miss. (AP) — Call economist Darrin Webb.
them the unrecovered — a “People have had to go
handful of states where job where the jobs are.”
markets, nine years later, That doesn’t mean things
are still struggling back to haven’t improved for
where they were before many people. Economists
the recession. have long advised that a
That’s true in Mississippi, better-educated, more
where job numbers and the productive workforce
overall size of the econo- could eventually spur
my remain below 2008 lev- growth. The state’s com-
els. Unlike states that have munity colleges last year
long since sprinted ahead, began offering not only
Mississippi is struggling with adult education classes to
slow economic growth high school dropouts, but
and slipping population also free training leading to
in a place that’s rarely at career certification. Kath-
peak economic health. ryn Winfield, 37, was one of
Miguel Brown, despite fam- the first graduates.
ily ties to his hometown Returning to the labor
near the Alabama border, force after two years spent
is working on oil rigs off the A yet to open hair styling salon posts a homemade sign seeking licensed hair stylists in north Jack- caring for her dying father,
son, Miss., Wednesday, May 17, 2017. Mississippi is one of several state that are still struggling to
shore of Texas, chasing get back to where they were before the recession some nine years ago. she earned her high school
higher wages. Associated Press equivalency degree and
“It’s rough,” said the became a certified nursing
49-year-old Brown. “There’s trasts with states including nation’s highest unemploy- Americans don’t feel the assistant.
not a whole lot of jobs in Colorado, North Dakota, ment rate. national economic num- After nearly a decade
Meridian, especially that Texas and Utah, where em- Emilia Istrate, who produc- bers. It’s because they live making the minimum wage
pay anything.” ployment numbers have es a yearly report on how in one of these places that of $7.25 an hour working as
Not only Mississippi, but soared. local economies are faring is still in recovery or strug- a cashier, Winfield is now
also Alabama, Michigan, Nationwide, job numbers for the National Association gling,” Istrate said. making more than $13 an
New Mexico, and West Vir- surpassed pre-recession of Counties, said the recov- Growth has long lagged hour helping care for nurs-
ginia are still short of pre- peaks in the middle of 2014, ery has been widespread in Mississippi, and job- ing home patients. She
recession job levels by mul- about the same time Missis- but “uneven.” less rates are high even in said the additional pay al-
tiple measures. That con- sippi was saddled with the “It explains why so many good times. The unemploy- lows her to better provide
ment rate fell to 5 percent for her three kids.
in March, the lowest since In some ways, Mississippi’s
the U.S. Labor Department economy has healed from
began the current system the scars of the recession.
of measurement in 1976. Archie McDonnell Jr., the
But at the same time that CEO of Citizens National
the Magnolia State’s un- Bank, said loan demand
employment rate was at has rebounded above
a record low, it tied for the prerecession highs at Me-
ninth highest among the ridian’s largest financial
states. institution, and the bank’s
Mississippi suffers from a profits have more than tri-
cluster of ills that make it pled from their bottom in
an economic laggard. 2011.
Only 53 percent of Missis- “People just decided, the
sippi adults were working recession’s over, I’ve got
in 2016, the second lowest to get back to running my
share of any state. Missis- business and investing and
sippi’s economy depends doing things,” McDonnell
on slow-growth sectors, said.
including government em- McDonnell said he’s hope-
ployment. ful about investment in Me-
While nearly 30 percent of ridian, noting a $50 million
Americans older than 25 museum being built down-
have a bachelor’s degree town, an investor seeking
or higher, only 21 percent to redevelop a derelict
of Mississippians do. 16-story art-deco skyscrap-
The overall size of Mississip- er into a hotel, and new
pi’s economy was smaller ownership at the city’s
in 2016 than it was in 2008, mall.
and people are beginning The number of Mississip-
to vote with their feet: the pians who report being
state’s population has fall- employed could top the
en in the last two years. precession high when April
“I think the population data is released Friday.q