South, Slammed By Recession, Bleeds Jobs

The aftermath of the Great Recession has overturned the long-standing geography of economic strength in the U.S., with the Sun Belt now setting and the Rust Belt doing relatively better in the albeit anemic recovery, The New York Times reported on Monday.

In a front-page article on nytimes.com called "Slump Alters Jobless Map in U.S., With South Hit Hard" the newspaper says that six of the 10 states with the highest unemployment rates in the nation are in the South, which before the Great Recession boasted one of the country's lowest unemployment rates.

Now, with the concentration of the highest unemployment rates in the South and the West, some economists and researchers wonder if it is an anomaly of the uneven recovery or a harbinger of things to come, The New York Times' Michael Cooper wrote.

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