For many states, the pandemic’s economic toll is now history. But New York’s just keeps rolling along.

Thank Albany’s endless hostility to business for that — and cross your fingers lawmakers don’t make matters even worse this year.

In a new report, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli suggests Gov. Kathy Hochul’s budget folks are being optimistic in saying it’ll take another full year before employment returns to pre-pandemic levels. Independent forecasters, he notes, predict it’ll take far longer — with IHS Markit saying not until 2027, i.e., another five years.

Meanwhile, lucky Texas, Arizona, Utah and Idaho have already recovered all the jobs they lost, per Fitch Ratings. The virus is no longer dragging down their economies.

Indeed, the median US jobs-recovery rate hit 77% in November, a clear sign COVID is no longer strangling the national economy. Yet New York’s rate trailed, at 60%.

Jobless figures paint a similar picture: In December, the US unemployment rate fell to 3.9%, yet the Empire State was stuck at 6.2%, the nation’s fourth worst, after New Jersey (6.3%), Nevada (6.4%) and California (6.5%).

Blame, in part, New York’s needlessly tough COVID mandates, which have discouraged tourists and hurt businesses. And also the state’s high taxes (which soared even more last year), onerous pre-pandemic regulations and business mandates (the high minimum wage, for example, and paid-leave requirements).

Yet businesses here face another looming threat, as the Empire Center’s Peter Warren points out: Albany must repay Uncle Sam $9.3 billion for money it borrowed to pay its share of unemployment claims during the worst of the COVID crisis. That IOU (plus the hefty interest it’s accruing) will ultimately fall on private employers via higher unemployment taxes.

In her budget for the coming year, Hochul could’ve proposed using some of the state’s $12.7 billion windfall in federal COVID-relief funds to pay down the debt and spare businesses. Instead, she has other plans for all of it, including a $2 billion slush fund for legislators to spend as they please. And helping businesses is never high on their list.

Yes, the Senate did pass legislation last month to delay the extra payroll taxes for two more years. But that will only worsen the problem down the road, as interest costs grow.

Albany can still contain the damage by using some of the federal funds to pay down that debt, as other states have done. If it doesn’t, expect New York’s jobs bounceback to take even longer.