With the national economy showing signs of a recession now would be a good time to review the employment situation in the Philadelphia region.

What if this is as good as it gets?

Wednesday new figures on employment in the region were released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Payroll employment in January increased over the same month a year ago by 11,000 jobs or .6%. Employment growth in January lies somewhat below a post-2001 recession peak of 1.5% achieved in the summer of 2005.

You say groove, I say mojo.

As Mark Zandi of economy.com put it recently the national economy since 2001 “never got its groove back.” In the Philadelphia region employment growth even after 2003 never quite achieved the levels that prevailed in the late 90s. The percentage of the population employed was higher and the unemployment rate was lower in the last three years of the 90s boom (1998-2000) than in what look to be the last three years of the Bush boom (2005-2007).

Bush boom? It is a book, which if you are going to buy perhaps you would consider paying me $2.00 for a gently used copy of this book. I mean come on what else could you buy for $2.00?

Natural and Unnatural Disasters.

Like hurricanes, recessions do not impose the same degree of pain and suffering on every member of our society.

Does past performance predict future performance? Let’s hope not!

The last two recessions each lasted eight months but employment nationally and in the Philadelphia region continued to contract even after the recessions were declared to have run their course. In Philadelphia employment would continue to contract for another 24 months following the end of the 1990-91 recession and for another 31 months following the official end of the 2001 recession. If the U.S. economy is currently in a recession based on recent economic history it may be 2011 before employment in the region begins to grow again.