As the chart indicates, the average number of hours worked initially dropped during the recession, but is now at 102.7 percent of its pre-downturn level.

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The same is true for the Washington, DC, area, where an all-but-recession-proof economy based on the federal government has already managed a return to pre-downturn output levels.

ECONOMIST: House prices and mobility

The Item Club highlights the importance of the large and diverse business services sector in being the main engine of growth, while manufacturing has stagnated and construction remains about 10% below its pre-downturn output.

BBC: Making up lost ground

When pressed, schools can name researchers among their faculty who were concerned about the financial services industry's cavalier attitude toward risk in the lead-up to the credit crunch, but very few can name anyone who countered the relentless optimism of the pre-downturn years.

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It highlights the plight of the hospitality sector, which appears to be 9% down on the pre-downturn days over the past three years, while 'accommodation and food' in the UK as a whole is up 2.8% in the past year, and running close to its 2007 levels.

BBC: Making up lost ground

Its resilience during the global downturn was in part caused by its skipping the pre-crisis trade boom.

ECONOMIST: Banyan

Nonetheless its downturn was shorter and less severe and it has already surpassed its pre-crisis peak (something which will take Latvia several more years).

FORBES: Connect