A new report by the D.C.-based Brookings Institution finds that for the year ending in May of 2009, the West — and particularly its suburbs — were hardest hit by the recession:
The West outpaced all other regions in terms of growth in the unemployed population in the year ending in May 2009, and experienced the greatest increases in suburban unemployment rates, at 4.2 percentage points. Meanwhile, both the West and the Midwest experienced the greatest increases in city unemployment rates, at 4.4 percentage points .
The actual rates are pretty darn high in some places: 15 to 18 percent in California’s Central Valley, for example, and 12 percent in Riverside-San Bernardino in Southern California.