“The recession is over!”  Or so economists and politicians like to claim.  That statement is true if we define the term “recession” by the growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP).  But when we define recession by its impact on the economic and social wellbeing of states, a very different story emerges.  And while families across the nation continue to take a recessionary pounding, families of color are feeling even greater pain.  The recession is not over – it is just hitting its stride.

In October 2009, CSI released a sobering report, the 2009 Recession Impact Index, which analyzed the recession’s impact on states. Instead of relying on GDP and job growth alone, we devised an alternative measure.  Our multi-variable analysis focused on the heart of people’s interests and needs—healthcare, jobs, affordability, and poverty, among other factors—and revealed a picture of the deep economic pain Americans faced, especially in states with significantly high percentages of residents of color.

Today, we release an update to that report, the 2011 Recession Impact Index.   Overall, the picture is bleak. Unemployment remains agonizingly high for all communities.  For Whites, the rate remains at a painfully high 7.9%. Rates for Asians are 7.1% and Latino and Black populations have whopping 11.3% and 15.5% unemployment rates, respectively.  With high unemployment comes a precipitous drop in health insurance rates, leaving families at risk of financial disaster in the case of illness or medical emergency.  Millions of foreclosure proceedings are in a holding pattern, leaving families unsure if they will have a house to call home next month.  And as poverty rates increase more people are cutting their personal budgets for items like food and electricity, even as these prices are set to increase this summer.

That is the story, but it is not one we are often told in the context of the recession.  Instead, the so-called “end of the recession” has dominated the conversation, providing the impetus and justifications for the latest round of cuts in the 2011 federal budget and proposed cuts in state budgets across the country even as people continue to suffer.  Many of these proposed cuts are to the very programs that have helped people weather the storm: education, healthcare, food programs, and unemployment benefits.

How we define the recession is critical in shaping the public discourse on our current budget policy fights.  We challenge the assertion that “the recession is over” through this 2011 Recession Impact Index. Using the latest available data, we examined how states fared both at the height of the Recession and now at its’ supposed “end.”  The results of CSI’s Impact Index analysis paint a disappointing picture:

• Of the 15 states with a higher-than-average percentage of people of color (i.e. a population of color that exceeds the national average of 36.9%), 12 have been among the hardest hit by the recession.  Only Hawaii, DC, and Maryland remained as low-impact states.


• The majority of states where the population of color is below 30% —those in the Great Plains, Mid-Atlantic, and New England regions—have remained relatively healthy.


• The Rustbelt continued its decades’ long economic decline, while the Southern and Southwestern states, where populations of color are above 30%, continue to be the most impacted by the Recession.


• Nevada, with 42.6% people of color, witnessed a disastrous spike in the number of people uninsured as well as foreclosures and unemployment rates, making it the most negatively impacted state in the country.


• Massachusetts, with 23.9% people of color, has been able to escape most of the recession’s impact and has been the least impacted by the recession of all states.  Interestingly, Massachusetts’ relative wellbeing appears linked to the fact that it had the largest and most substantial increase in the health index category.  In the Bay State, increased coverage grew at the same time many states saw health insurance rates drop.


• In the overall Recession Impact Index, the health sub-index and the civics sub-index showed the least improvement in states compared to our October 2009 report, while the jobs sub-index and housing sub-index improved.  Yet, nearly half of the states that did not improve with respect to jobs and housing were states with people of color populations surpassing the national average.

This report details our findings and urges policymakers to consider that the recession is not over and will not end until the real needs of communities are met. CSI offers recommendations to help lawmakers ensure that low-income communities and communities of color are not chopped out of the budget and that the government continues to support the programs that will give all people a chance to thrive.