AP analysis: Average county was stressed in Jan.

[UpInArms]

Source: Associated Press

Worsening economic conditions caused the nation to reach a bleak milestone in January: For the first time since The Associated Press began analyzing conditions in more than 3,100 U.S. counties nearly a year ago, the average county was found to be economically stressed.

Driving the pain was a deterioration in states that earlier had weathered the Great Recession better than the nation as a whole. These states endured the sharpest gains in unemployment for the past three months due to job losses in such industries as energy and construction. The states include West Virginia, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana and Wisconsin.

"What we're seeing is the state of West Virginia getting sucked into the same vortex that swallowed the national economy," said George Hammond, an economist at West Virginia University.

The AP's Economic Stress Index found the average county's score in January was 11.9. That was sharply higher than the 10.8 reading in December, the previous high.

The index calculates a score from 1 to 100 based on a county's unemployment, foreclosure and bankruptcy rates. A higher score indicates more stress. Under a rough rule of thumb, a county is considered stressed when its score exceeds 11.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iGLWeDK3y4aT8IOK9HZqK6jl_r6gD9EK9DVO0

[pundaint]

1. How were the war profiteers doing?