A slowdown in migration of U.S. job seekers from depressed states to faster-growing ones will keep the unemployment rate from returning to prerecession levels, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics Inc. in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

"In past recoveries, unemployed workers could quickly move to find work," he said. "It is much more difficult to do that today given the large number of underwater homeowners and the aging of the population. This suggests that the recovery will be weaker than past recoveries."

The economies and labor markets in Alaska, North Dakota and Texas all reflect rising energy prices and increased spending on exploration, Diffley said.

Jobs in Texas

Through October, Texas has recovered 94 percent of the jobs lost during the recession, compared with just 27 percent for the U.S., Comptroller Susan Combs wrote in a Dec. 12 letter to Republican presidential candidate and Governor Rick Perry.

North Dakota and Alaska led tax collection increases from July to September, with revenue more than doubling because of "taxes driven by higher oil and mineral prices," the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government said Dec. 8.

Since 2005, oil production in North Dakota has nearly quadrupled at the same time employment in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction has increased 185 percent, IHS said.

What's more, energy-producing regions are seeing "significant wage gains," said Drew Matus, senior U.S. economist at UBS Securities LLC. "Go to North Dakota and try to rent a hotel room for the night. Good luck, right? You cannot do it."

Top-Ranked State

North Dakota's economy was ranked best-performing among U.S. states in the second quarter, followed by Oklahoma, according to the Bloomberg Economic Evaluation of States Index, which uses data on employment, income, real estate, taxes and stocks.

Meantime, in places where housing's collapse was most- pronounced, states continue to languish. Nevada, California and Arizona posted the highest foreclosure rates in November, with Florida, Georgia and Michigan among the top 10 states, according to RealtyTrac Inc., a mortgage-data firm.