Dive summary:

• Often, we read about "the recovery" in the U.S., and that makes it easy to forget how uneven progress has been in the battle top come back from the recession, something a new analysis from investment blog 24/7 Wall Street is designed to cure.
• The five states that have had the greatest percentage gains since the recession officially started in December 2007 are Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina, Utah and Oregon.
• The states that have had the heaviest economic anchors holding them back from putting people back to work are New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and South Dakota.

From the article:

As of November 2012, the national unemployment rate was 7.7 percent, or 11.3 million unemployed people. That number had reached as high as 10 percent in October 2009, approximately 15 million jobless individuals. ...