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Recession Geography 101

Published: Mar 04, 2009

When you live or work in New york City, there is a tendency to feel as though you are in the center of the world, that all cities are but shadows of this one. And why wouldn't you? Recession coverage has been centered on the city's formerly rich and powerful, chronicling the fall of Wall Street titans and the ensuing banking conflagration (mirrored by the hubris of Detroit's auto Kingpins), complete with stones being thrown by less glamorous government officials living in glass houses*.

But beyond the high dramas of the filthy rich, the New York Times reminds us that this Great Recession is actually the Great Equalizer:

"Unlike the last two recessions — earlier this decade and in the early 1990s — this one is causing much more job loss among the less educated than among college graduates. Those earlier recessions introduced the country to the concept of mass white-collar layoffs. The brunt of the layoffs in this recession is falling on construction workers, hotel workers, retail workers and others without a four-year degree.

The Great Recession of 2008 (and beyond) is hurting men more than women. It is hurting homeowners and investors more than renters or retirees who rely on Social Security checks. It is hurting Latinos more than any other ethnic group... You often hear that recessions exact the biggest price on the most vulnerable workers. And that’s true about this recession, at least for the moment. But it isn’t the whole story. Just look at Wall Street, where a generation-long bubble seems to lose a bit more air every day."

The article is well worth reading for the interactive map of unemployment rates across the country. Check this:

"If you look at the interactive map with this column, you will see the places that already had high unemployment before the recession have also had some of the largest increases. Some are victims of the housing bust, like inland California. Others are manufacturing centers, as in Michigan and North Carolina, whose long-term decline is accelerating. Rhode Island, home to both factories and Boston exurbs, has one of the highest jobless rates in the nation."

On that note, we at Pink Slipped will do our best to provide more regional information when we can.  We're all in this together, so leave us a comment and share any tips, worries, stories, or silver linings from wherever you hail.

--Posted by Linda Petock, Vault News and Commentary

*Excepting of course, the glamorous scold, President Obama, living in the White House.

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