Twenty-two states — nearly half the nation — now have higher employment than in November 2001, the month the U.S. recession ended. Employment growth is a final stroke in the recovery portrait that began in the fourth quarter of 2001. In short, this recovery is good enough to hang on the wall.

The March nonfarm payroll employment report, released last Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), registered a gain of 308,000 jobs. It appears as though the trough in employment occurred in August 2003, with jobs growing by 759,000 in the seven months since. Real GDP (inflation-adjusted gross domestic product) has grown for nine consecutive quarters, and the troughs in real personal income and industrial production occurred in the last quarter of 2001.

Employment data collected by state agencies and reported to the BLS provides more evidence of solid, sustained recovery. Twenty-two states, predominantly in the South, Rockies, and West, reported employment levels in February 2004 that were higher than in November 2001 when the recession ended. (State employment figures for March 2004 are not yet available).

Florida recorded the largest employment gain (219,900) in the period, followed by Nevada (77,900), Arizona (74,100), and Virginia (57,600). Growth in each state was fueled by expansion in the professional and business services supersector.

Other southern states that registered gains in the period were Tennessee (33,300), South Carolina (12,500), and Louisiana (3,100). The following states in the Rockies and West also recorded net job creation: Hawaii (25,900), New Mexico (22,100), Idaho (15,000), Washington (14,100), Alaska (12,300), Montana (10,600), Utah (7,000), and Wyoming (4,700).

Colorado, Oregon, and California were the only states west of the plains to register net job losses in the period. Colorado’s employment declined by 63,600, about 3 percent. In Oregon, jobs fell by 6,300, a decline of less than half of 1 percent. In California, employment declined 24,700, less than a quarter of 1 percent. The trough in California appears to have occurred in July 2003. Since that time 64,700 new jobs have been created in the Golden State.

States in other regions also recorded employment levels that were higher in February 2004 than in November 2001. These include Rhode Island (12,900) and Maine (1,800) in New England; Maryland (21,300) and New Jersey (600) in the Mid-Atlantic; Wisconsin (12,900) in the Great Lakes region; and North Dakota (3,500) and South Dakota (1,600) in the Plains.

Jobs disappeared between March and November 2001 while the economy was in recession. That’s no revelation. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone — except the perpetual bears — that new jobs are reappearing in so many states now that a full-blown economic recovery is underway. This is a natural process of a business cycle.

Employment gains in some states — such as New Jersey, South Dakota, and Maine — have been modest. But post-recession job losses have also been overstated.

Total U.S. nonfarm payroll employment was 130,871,000 for November 2001, and 130,548,000 for March 2004 (preliminary). This is a decline of 323,000 jobs, about one-quarter of 1 percent. One more monthly employment report showing gains similar to last Friday’s would erase that modest deficit and place the entire U.S. in positive post-recession jobs territory.

–Greg Kaza is executive director of the Arkansas Policy Foundation, a non-profit economic research organization founded in 1995 and based in Little Rock.