Just one metro area (McAllen) regained its pre-recession peak employment level...reported recently by The Brookings Institution

In a Recent Report by The Brookings Institution: Just one metro area (McAllen) regained its pre-recession peak employment level
The Brookings Institution
December 2009 — MetroMonitor:
Tracking Economic Recession and Recovery in America’s 100 Largest Metropolitan Areas Cities, Regions and States, U.S. Economy, Unemployment, Housing

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Nationwide, the recession is over—at least in the view of most economists in light of third quarter 2009 indicators. They revealed a real U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) increasing at a 2.8 percent annual rate, after four consecutive quarters of contraction. Most interpreted that rate of output growth, along with other signals such as increasing housing prices, as indication that the economic recovery is underway.
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Six metro areas—Albuquerque, Austin, McAllen, San Antonio, Virginia Beach, and Washington, DC—had regained their pre-recession peak level of output by the third quarter. Just one metro area (McAllen) regained its pre-recession peak employment level. No metropolitan area had a lower unemployment rate in September than it did one year earlier, though increases over that period ranged widely, from a little over 1 percentage point to more than 8 percentage points.

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