Officially, at least, the Great Recession ended in 2009.

But if you live around here you know that its effects have rippled for years after that. It seems that things, including new high rises, the Silicon Beach tech scene, and overheated home sales, have only recently started to look up.

But just-released results of a Gallup poll of 353,732 adults nationwide concluded that Los Angeles had some of the most dismal employment figures among the 50 U.S. metro areas examined.

Gallup compared payroll rates to population, or what it calls P2P. The analysis “tracks the percentage of the adult population aged 18 and older who are employed full time for an employer for at least 30 hours per week,” according to the research firm.

Pollsters tracked employment in the top 50 metros throughout 2014 to come up with this ranking. Gallup concludes:

Three of the MSAs with the lowest P2P rates were in California: Riverside, Sacramento and Los Angeles.

Yep.

The L.A.-Long Beach-Anaheim metropolitan statistical area ended up fifth from the bottom on the ranking of 50 cities, outdone only by Pittsburgh (last), Falls, New York (second from last), greater Providence, Rhode Island (third from last), and greater Detroit (fourth from last).

Sixth from last was our playtime friend, Las Vegas. Sacramento was seventh from last. And the Inland Empire was eighth from last. 

L.A.'s payroll-to-population rate is 41.6 percent, says Gallup. It's P2P figures, the firm says, mirror national unemployment rates. This is bad news for Los Angeles.

“The measures also correspond with the best and worst performers” when it comes to jobs, Gallup says. We're among the worst.

Credit: Gallup

Credit: Gallup

The Big Government capital of Washington, D.C. had the highest payroll-to-population rate, at 54.1 percent, followed by second place Salt Lake City, at 52.9 percent.

Gallup:

Once again, the biggest factor countering full-time employment is not unemployment, but failure to participate in the labor force at all. … Labor force participation remains at historically low levels.

Good times.

Send feedback and tips to the author. Follow Dennis Romero on Twitter at @dennisjromero. Follow L.A. Weekly News on Twitter at @laweeklynews.

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