“There are 1,260 rural counties with fewer people working than seven years ago; 711 rural counties have more jobs than in November 2007,” writes Bill Bishop at the Daily Yonder in looking at the recovery from the 2008-09 recession. Overall, there are 1.8 million more U.S. jobs than when the recession began. “Rural America, however, has yet to recover. There are 556,000 fewer jobs in rural counties in November 2014 than in the same month seven years ago, just before the recession officially started,” says Bishop.
The six rural counties with the largest increase in jobs are oil- and gas-producing counties; five are in North Dakota. The Daily Yonder article includes an interactive map that displays 2007 and 2014 employment data for each county.