Cities are creating jobs faster than rural areas with a 13.3 percent growth rate in the past year, compared to 4.8 percent in rural counties, says a Daily Yonder analysis of Labor Department statistics. “Unemployment remains a bigger problem in rural counties than metro areas,” says the Yonder, which tried to gauge local conditions in battleground states.
Research indicates voters are influenced by local economic conditions in the weeks leading to an election, with incumbents faring worse during downturns. Of the 10 likely battleground states – Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia – all had lower unemployment rates than the U.S. average of 5.1 percent.
“But local conditions are what count and … some swing states are still suffering,” said the Yonder. “For example, the unemployment rate in rural Pennsylvania is nearly 2 percentage points higher than the national average of 5.1 percent. Michigan and Nevada also have rates higher than the national average in both rural and urban counties. Rural Pennsylvania and Virginia have both lost jobs in the last year.
“New Hampshire has unemployment rates over 2 percentage points lower than the national average in both rural and urban counties. Colorado and Iowa also have relatively low unemployment rates,” said the Yonder. “In seven out of 10 swing states, all but Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania, metro unemployment rates were well below the national average.”