Texas, Arizona, Utah and Idaho have recovered all jobs lost during the pandemic, according to a new report from Fitch Ratings.
Texas and Arizona are the newcomers to the group, reaching full jobs recovery in November 2021 and joining Utah and Idaho. As of November 2021, all states except for Hawaii and Wyoming have recovered over 50 percent of the jobs lost at the pandemic's peak.
California's recovery rate stands at 70 percent, a 2-percentage-point jump from October 2021. New York's recovery rate increased to 60 percent, up 1 percentage point from the prior month.
The median jobs recovery rate among major metropolitan statistical areas rose to 76 percent in November 2021, with Southern MSAs leading the nation with an 85 percent recovery. Midwestern MSAs followed with a median recovery rate of 82 percent, Western MSAs were at 75 percent and Northeastern MSAs trailed at 73 percent.
Fitch noted that omicron threatened to further stall states' already slow jobs recovery.
"November saw solid state employment growth with the state median jobs recovery hitting 77 percent, a 2-percentage-points increase from the prior month," Olu Sonola, head of U.S. Regional Economics for Fitch, said in a statement. "But these recovery trends, boosted by in-person education and greater return to in-person work, may be threatened by the still uncertain economic implications of the omicron variant."