Lexington was spared from the worst of the recession

Although Lexington, Ky., was affected by the recession, the city’s variety of employers prevented it from being affected as severely as the state and U.S., according to www.kentucky.com.

Employment in manufacturing declined 27.1 percent in Kentucky from 2001 to 2009; however, Lexington depends less on manufacturing, which is 8 percent of its employment compared with 12.5 percent of the state's employment. Additionally, Lexington's manufacturing employment did not decline as significantly from 2001 to 2009, dropping only 14.8 percent.

Lexington has higher percentages of people employed in other industries, including agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting; information; real estate; and professional and business services, which grew 21.7 percent statewide between 2001 and 2009. The city mirrors the state and U.S. regarding construction and retail trade.

Because University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital employees count as state government employees, Lexington ranks much higher in state government employees at 11.4 percent compared with the state's 4.9 percent. As a result, growth in Lexington is shown as 7.4 percent in health care and contributing to the 19.9 percent growth in state government employment from 2001 to 2009.

The variety of employers and larger presence of government jobs has resulted in Lexington performing better regarding unemployment.