7 States that Never Recovered from the Great Recession

The last recession in the U.S. – more than 10 years ago – lasted only two years, but its impact on the U.S. workforce is still being felt. While the country as a whole boasts 6,692,837 more jobs in 2017 than in 2007, some states still haven’t fully recovered, and many of the occupations that are growing require workers to get additional training and/or education to fill them.

“While we have been seeing job growth in nearly every state since the recession ended, some states have recovered faster than others. Still, even in areas where job growth has lagged, there are occupations and industries that are growing,” said Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder and co-author of The Talent Equation. “Companies looking to hire in those regions should expand their search to workers with transferrable skills in other, less recovered local industries. There are competitive advantages to be had by tapping new talent pools and investing in reskilling and training workers.”

The study is based on data from Emsi, CareerBuilder’s labor market analysis arm that aggregates information from multiple national and local employment resources. The following are seven states that had fewer jobs in 2017 than they did in 2007:

Alabama: 62,637 fewer jobs – 3 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
West Virginia: 33,428 fewer jobs – 4 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
Mississippi: 26,666 fewer jobs – 2 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
New Mexico: 23,422 fewer jobs – 2 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
Connecticut: 19,781 fewer jobs – 1 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
Wyoming: 13,257 fewer jobs – 4 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
Illinois: 11,682 fewer jobs – 0.2 percent – in 2017 than in 2007

States That Have Grown the Most Since 2007

Of the 40 states that had more jobs in 2017 than they did in 2007, 14 have outpaced the overall national job growth rate. The seven states with the largest net increase in jobs since 2007 are:

Texas: 1,699,505 more jobs – 15 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
California: 1,239,911 more jobs – 7 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
New York: 597,961 more jobs – 6 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
Florida: 455,134 more jobs – 5 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
Washington: 300,885 more jobs – 9 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
Colorado: 293,160 more jobs – 11 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
Massachusetts: 288,446 more jobs – 8 percent – in 2017 than in 2007

Occupations That Have Grown the Most Since 2007 Nationally

The recession had wide ranging effects, and no corner of the workforce was completely unaffected. Still, while the country overall has 4 percent more jobs than it did in 2007, some occupations have fared considerably better.

The following occupations have not only seen some of the highest 2007-2017 growth rates nationally, but they’ve also grown in each of the states that haven’t fully recovered:

Registered nurses: 397,315 more jobs – 16 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
Waiters and waitresses: 328,431 more jobs – 14 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
Home health aides: 296,952 more jobs – 46 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
Nursing assistants: 163,770 more jobs – 12 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
Postsecondary teachers: 151,047 more jobs – 11 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
Landscaping and grounds keeping workers: 110,037 more jobs – 9 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
Medical secretaries: 95,649 more jobs – 20 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
Web developers: 47,073 more jobs – 38 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
Veterinary technologists and technicians: 25,033 more jobs – 32 percent in 2017 than in 2007
Genetic counselors: 709 more jobs – 31 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
Health technologists and technicians, all other: 30,583 more jobs – 30 percent in 2017 than in 2007
Hearing aid specialists: 1,582 more jobs – 28 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
Operations research analysts: 24,742 more jobs – 27 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
Mental health counselors: 34,996 more jobs – 27 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
Athletic trainers: 5,438 more jobs – 26 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
Healthcare social workers: 35,980 more jobs – 26 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
Meeting, convention, and event planners: 22,601 more jobs – 24 percent – in 2017 than in 2007
Computer systems analysts: 106,992 more jobs – 22 percent – in 2017 than in 2007

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