russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

After the fact research seems to indicate that San Diego hit bottom in February 2009 and has been improving ever since. My own business also reflects that.

DougW Loc: SoCal

LA area ; Prices higher, jobs in food service, low wages when you get one, higher taxes.

robert-photos Loc: Chicago

I get my finance and economic information daily from Calculated Risk which is a free a-political blog of private and public sector statistics along with brief, easy to understand analysis. Takes less than 5 minutes a day....try it, you'll like it:
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/

big d Loc: Rossendale Lancashire

Not so clever North west England ! No longer a manufacturing based country but one big massive service industry? I would imagine England is like a little American state? (never been to America) in regards to consumerism and the major business entrepreneurs all took their monies to third world countries were wages are pitiful no unions health and safety and so on !

daddybear Loc: Brunswick, NY

I'm from Upstate New York. I have been in the mechanical/commercial piping supply industry for over 40 years. Slowest it has ever been in the private sector. Nothing coming on the drawing boards. Some government work, schools, offices, etc.
but to get the work you practically have to give it away.

Daddybear

cday Loc: North Carolina

Live in NC as well...the foothills...Like Singing Swan, no improvement. City Council doesn't seem too interested in helping local businesses in downtown remain open, or even bring in new business. Downtown is struggling. One owner has hers up for sale (sadly now that means I have to go to Hickory for what I need)...because her building is being turned into a residential building. For her to remain downstairs, she has to come up with $30K for sprinkler systems...so, she is trying to sell. And gas is costing an arm and a leg...everyone is suffering....unemployment is still up even though the local ESC says differently. Furniture went across the big pond, lots of empty buildings. So sad....my kids sure won't find jobs here....and they want to work.....retirement is looking less and less like an option....

larrywilk Loc: Palm Harbor, FL

I live in Florida, Tampa/St Pete area. Construction took a nosedive in early to mid 2000's. Very little work available, wages drastically reduced and the bottom fell out of property values.

Has it improved since then? Marginally. Wages still down, work sporadic and small increase in property values.

Day.Old.Pizza Loc: Maple Grove, MN

In the Copper Country of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan the economy is in it's 2nd year of contraction of the Construction Industry. The larger contractors are downsizing and small, independents are popping up like weeds. Our Sales are still falling. Folks are hanging onto their pocketbooks.

Tom-NM Loc: Southeast New Mexico

New Mexico is always at the end of the tally, and now more people are out of work, food, housing and gas cost keeps rising and doctors are leaving for more lucrative areas. If you can afford something done you can't find anyone to do it. I don't see it getting any better soon.

KW Conch Loc: USA

I live in the area between Charlotte and Hickory, NC. Things are still slow in the Hickory area, but Charlotte is showing a slow but steady recovery. My brother in law is in Real Estate and he tells me that there are more buyers than sellers and that prices have risen about 15% in the past year. Gas prices are about $3.40 gallon. Unemployment has slowly dropped, but is still in the 8% range. I have a $400,000 house and my real estate taxes are only $2800 year as I live in the county, so no complaints.
All in all, I am retired with an excellent income, so I am truly blessed. Far better off than I was 4 years ago. The area is a little better off too, if you remember that the global economy was on the verge of collapse in late 2098 and early 2009.

Nickey Loc: Arizona

I work in a hospital and this I can say. With the economy this bad. Everything in the healthcare industry is affected. Where I work, nurses are given more assigned tasks to do. What used to be tasks for 5 people, now there are 4. I work three-12hour shifts. It used to, after working your 3 shifts (36hours), you get overtime, now you will have to work 40 hours before you get overtime. We are told to be always be mindful of the things that we need in doing patient care, because everything adds up to the overall cost. BUT this is not the big problem that I see here.

The big problem is this.... when I send my patients home I want them to stay fullu recovered or at least improving healthwise. But this is not happening all the time. With the high cost of living, my patients tell me that sometime it is ot an option, but they are to cut back on the frequency they are taking their medications, if not cut the pills in half. Another concern that I have is, with the high cost associated with their hospitalization espcially dealing with expensive drugs such as chemo, antibiotics and tests and procedures in general, some of them are at risk of losing their homes. It breaks my heart to listen to their stories, and here I am, I cannot do anything, but give them the time they need to vent their emotions. It is heartbreaking when they tell you, "just let me go home and die", So sad but I hope, I really do, that things will get better, for our sake. I have 10 more years before I retire, and I hope not to be in that predicament, when I have to cut back on my meds, or worry about losing my house to keep on living.

nite-l Loc: Tulsa, OK

I am in Tulsa, OK. Gas prices around $3.16 per gallon (middle of the index), housing prices up a little over last year, unemployment better than the national average. Problem is that the country's economy is never going to recover from the current debts being run up for social services. As happened in ancient Rome, as soon as the citizenry discovers they can vote themselves benefits without contributing anything to the economy, the nation is doomed.

Ambrose Loc: North America

Better
Unemployment in my midwest city has dropped from 6% in 2010 to 4.3% today.
GDP in 2010 was 78 mil, in 2012 - up to 86 mil.

TonyP Loc: New Zealand

Hi Richard
I thought I would wait and see the tenor of replies from the US, not that its relevant.

However I have to admit we seem to be weathering the ongoing recession better than many
parts of the world
We have had some terrible events here, both in terms of suffering and economically though.
We had a very large container ship hit a reef of one of our main tourist coasts and the cleanup is still going on.
A major earthquake in the South Island that decimated the the city of Christchurch.
Over half the City destroyed and thousands of houses made uninhabitable.
This Winter in Christchurch with night time temps below zero, people are living in very dire accommodation
with little heating.
Even reports of people living in the cars at one stage because no housing was available.
Of course none of these things are attributable to the rcession but they are all costs on our Government
which of course is ultimately funded by the peoples taxes.
And there is only a pop. of 4.2 million of us to cover the cost.
That aside, although we are retired, it seems to me that we are pretty well off. The average citizen
I mean.
Unemployment is always a political debate and it may have gone up a smidgeon but not dramatically.
Our dollar is one of the strongest in the world even though interest rates are low compared to what they
have been. We get about 4% on term deposit and it costs about 5% or thereabouts to borrow from a Bank.
Because our $ is strong, imports are still relatively cheap but the downside is exporters are struggling
because other countries cant afford our produce prices.

House prices in Auckland, our largest City have rocketed. Average is somewhere around $600,000
but you would be lucky to buy a house close to the City for that.
Million dollar properties are becoming the norm in Auckland.
There is talk that todays young people may never afford their own home in NZ.

Having said all that, I still feel that we are better off than many.
Australia is only now starting to feel the recession having weathered it till now but their commodity sales are plummeting
as China is getting tougher on where it buys its steel etc.

So, I think we will stay here a while yet, probably turn the lights out when we get to leave :)