30 US states in recession, 19 at risk: Moody's

WASHINGTON: Thirty US states were mired in recession in September, and 19 others are at risk of falling into recession in the coming months, a survey by research firm Moody's Economy.com said on Tuesday.

Moody's defined recession for the study as a decline in a state's gross domestic product (GDP) on average over a six-month period, compared with the prior six-month period.

According to the March-September study, 27 states were already in recession in August.

States with shrunken GDPs were concentrated in the eastern half of the United States - the Midwest, the southeast and the northeast - and the West (California, the largest state economy; Oregon; and Hawaii).

At-risk states were located in the centre of the country and in the northeast, including New York state.

Moody's said the only state that showed growth was Alaska, whose economy is dominated by the oil and gas industry.

While not one of the 50 states, Moody's survey included the US capital Washington, also called the District of Columbia, where the heavily government-dependent economy also grew during the period.