StateStats: It's a Weakovery This Time Around: February 2013 | STATE LEGISLATURES MAGAZINE

We’ve heard it time and again: The Great Recession was the longest and worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. But what about its recovery? Unlike previous ones, which experienced robust upturns, the post-Great Recession period feels like a slow recuperation—a “weakovery.”

One way to compare recoveries is to look at how long it takes for state general fund revenue collections to return to pre-recession highs. In contrast to previous recoveries that saw revenues return to peak levels within one or two years, they are only now inching their way closer to the highs experienced in fiscal year 2008. They are projected to finally return to peak levels in FY 2013—five years after they began their precipitous decline.

Another way to demonstrate how sluggish this weakovery has been is to compare the current growth rate of state general fund revenues to past rates. For a majority of states, growth rates since the end of the Great Recession are lower than those from previous recoveries. Similar or higher growth rates experienced in a few states simply may be due to changes states made to their tax rates, or they may reflect the fact that revenue collections had to climb from greater depths after the Great Recession.  

—Todd Haggerty, NCSL