Job growth in rural America was half the rate of urban areas over the past year, says the Daily Yonder, in a look at Bureau of Labor Statistics data. In the 12 months ending in August, the number of jobs in rural areas expanded by 0.8 percent while city jobs grew at 1.6 percent, it says. “As we have been seeing for the past several years, counties with significant oil and gas activity lead rural America in job growth.” It also said four of 10 counties had few jobs than they did a year earlier.