Wall Street Journal (06/19/15) Jeffrey Sparshott

A new report from the U.S. Conference of Mayors finds that more than half of U.S. metropolitan areas have surpassed prerecession employment. “Soon, half of all metros will have unemployment rates below 5%, with fully employed economies, reaching their potential in providing jobs and income for their residents and generating higher levels of growth,” according to the report, prepared by IHS Global Insight for the mayors’ group. However, nearly one-third of cities are expected to remain short of that mark by the end of 2016. “It will still be the case that 130 metros will enter 2017 with fewer jobs than they supported almost a decade ago,” the report said. The areas recovering slowest are largely older Midwestern communities hurt by the loss of heavy manufacturing jobs, aging population, and deteriorating infrastructure.