Providence Still Years Away From Recovering From Great Recession

Providence Still Years Away From Recovering From Great Recession

The Providence-New Bedford-Fall River metropolitan area might not fully recover the nearly 55,000 jobs lost during the Great Recession until 2017 according to a new report released at the U.S. Conference of Mayors this morning.

At 11.4 percent, the region was tied with Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater and North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota for the 13th highest unemployment rate among the nation’s 100 largest metro areas in the first quarter of 2011. Seven of the 12 regions with higher unemployment rates are in California.

The study, conducted by IHS Global Insight, predicted the area would have a 10.9 percent unemployment rate by the end of the year.

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According to the report, job growth this year will reach just 1.2 percent, only slightly higher than underlying labor force growth, resulting in an unemployment rate that only slowly retreats from its current rate of 9.1 percent.

The report predicts that unemployment nationally will end the year at 8.6 percent and won’t fall below 8 percent until the end of 2013. Employment in the country won’t reach its 2008 peak level until the first half of 2014.

Among major metro areas, the report says that by the end of the year, 311 metros will have unemployment rates above 6 percent; 173 metros will have rates above 8 percent; and 69 metros (including Providence) will be above 10 percent.