Nevada, Michigan face slow comeback on jobs, forecast says

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Nevada and Michigan won’t return to peak employment levels until 2017 or later, according to an analysis from IHS Global Insight.

The two states, hit hard by the recession, aren’t the only two with far-off dates for a return to peak in employment. California, Arizona, Florida, Georgia and Ohio won’t see a return to peak until 2016 or 2017, the firm predicts.

The only states that are humming along in the jobs picture are Texas, Alaska and North Dakota, according to IHS.

The research firm also released projected employment growth rates in U.S. states from 2011 to 2017. The number of jobs in California will grow at an average annual rate of 1.6%, while employment in Texas will grow at 2.1%.

Arizona and Utah are projected to have the highest employment growth rates between 2011 and 2017, at 2.3% and 2.2% a year, respectively.

Some Sun Belt states have relatively high projected rates while recovery is still a long way off, said Jim Diffley, group managing director of U.S. Regional Services at IHS. That’s because those states lost many jobs in the recession, but are also seeing high population growth, so they’ll show higher rates of growth from the low levels of 2010.

The North Dakota projection seems to have already come true: Halliburton announced Thursday that it was adding 11,000 jobs, many of which would be located in North Dakota.

-- Alana Semuels

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Map: IHS Global Insight