BOSTON – New England is expected to see slow job growth over the next two years, lagging behind the rest of the nation, and it is not expected to return to its employment peak reached in 2001 during the high-tech boom until late 2006, according to some of the region’s top economists.

The New England Economic Partnership (NEEP) said at its fall meeting that the six-state region is not expected to reach the just over 7 million job plateau until 2006. Employment topped out at 7.1 million in the first quarter of 2001.

The NEEP economists say they expect unemployment in New England will average 4.7% from 2003 to 2008, or about half a percentage point below the American average.

New Hampshire, with an expected 2% job growth rate, is the only state in the region expected to have employment growth above the American average over the forecast period, NEEP economic forecasters said in a report on the region’s economy.

Rhode Island and Massachusetts are expected to have the highest unemployment rates in the region at 5.2%. New Hampshire is expected to record a 3.3% unemployment rate, and Vermont 3.5% through 2008. Overall growth in economic activity is expected to increase through 2007 in New England, with gross regional product growth forecast to average 3.4% annually, said the economists, who have been tracking the regional economy since 1971.