Only 43 percent of rural counties have the same number of jobs, or more, as they had before the pandemic, said the Daily Yonder, based on an analysis of Labor Department data. Recovery was strongest in counties on the fringes of metropolitan areas and weakest in the counties furthest from town.
“Rural counties made up 95 of the top 100 counties with the most employment loss,” said the Daily Yonder. “But the good news is that the rural/urban gap has been narrowing over the past few months.”
Some 20.4 million people were employed in rural areas in September, the most recent month for jobs data at the county level, up 1 percent from September 2022. Rural Americans tend to be older and to have less formal education than urban residents.