"Unemployment in the South is now higher than it is in the Northeast and the Midwest, which include Rust Belt states that were struggling even before the recession," announces a recent article in the New York Times.

While unemployment figures are high nationwide, the finding is surprising given the fact that the South entered the recession with the lowest unemployment rate in the nation. It now struggles with some of the highest rates according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Highlighting the fact that regions are recovering at different speeds, the Rust Belt is outpacing the Sun Belt in reducing joblessness.

Whether or not the trend is going to continue is unknown, of course.  

“Because the recovery is so painfully slow, people may begin to think of the trends established during the recovery as normal,” Howard Wial, a Brookings fellow is quoted in the article. “Will people think of Florida, California, Nevada and Arizona as more or less permanently depressed? Think of the Great Lakes as being a renaissance region? I don’t know. It’s possible.”

Read the rest here.