Almost half of the states are in recession, economist says: What about Alabama?

Almost half of the states are either in recession or flirting with a downturn, according to a chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.

But Alabama is not one of them.

Axios talked to economist Mark Zandi at Moody’s Analytics. He created an index looking at state-level jobs data, as well as other categories such as modeled industrial production, personal income and housing starts.

It’s something the National Bureau of Economic Research Business Cycle Dating Committee does when it determines if the economy is in a recession.

According to Zandi, Alabama and neighbor Florida are expanding, which Tennessee is “treading water,” and Georgia and Mississippi’s economies are shrinking.

The states in contraction aren’t specific to one region and make up about a third of the nation’s overall GDP.