When the Great Recession began in December 2007, Maryland and Virginia had identical 3.3 percent unemployment rates. Fifty-seven months later, the employment situations in these two similar states couldn’t be more different.

Virginia’s unemployment rate reached a high of 7.3 percent in January 2010, and has since declined to just 5.9 percent. In Maryland, unemployment reached 8 percent in that same month and has remained stubbornly high at 7.1 percent.