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Based on the county's unemployment rate, the number of foreclosures and the bankruptcy rate; a score between 1 and 100 is given. Any county with an AP's Economic Stress Index over 11 is considered to be economically stressed.
The September AP's Economic Stress Index has recently been released. The numbers do show some signs of improvement in the economy. The nationwide average stress score improved to 10.1 compared to 10.3 in August.
This is still much higher that what it was last year. The average stress score was 6.73 in September 2008.
The AP's Economic Stress Index also showed that some areas of the country are improving more than other areas. Specifically the North is improving from the recession much faster than the South.
The three areas still suffering the most from the recession is the Southeast, the industrial part of the Midwest and the Southwest. Some of these areas were also the first ones to enter the recession.
The states with the highest stress scores based on the AP's Economic Stress Index are as follows:
The states with the lowest stress scores based on the AP's Economic Stress Index are:
Looking closer at the numbers from the AP's Economic Stress Index, two factors stand out on how an area is recovering from the recession. Depending on how hard an area was hit with the housing market crash and how diverse the economy is, seems to be common links on how an area has been affected with the recession.
If the area was hit hard when the housing market bubble popped, then that area has seen a higher stress index number. If the area had a very diverse economic market going into the recession, then that area has fared better than those that had only a few industries in the area.
The APs Economic Stress Index is updated monthly. If you would like to see what your county's stress index number is, go to the interactive map and double click on your state to locate your county.
Written by Denise Clay
Exclusive to HULIQ
Posted November 10th, 2009 by Denise Clay
