Rural unemployment not as bad as national, but county and state data show wide variances

Rural counties in the Eastern U.S., and those in the Pacific Northwest, tended to have higher unemployment rates than rural counties elsewhere in the nation, but overall employment is better in rural areas than elsewhere, the Daily Yonder reports. (Yonder map, Bureau of Labor Statistics data; click map for larger version)

"Unemployment continued to be higher in rural counties than in urban and exurban ones in May, but those job losses were concentrated in a few states. In much of rural America, unemployment rates were at or below the national average," Tim Murphy and Bill Bishop report. "Rural counties have 3 percent fewer jobs this May than they did in 2008. Both urban and exurban counties have lost close to 4 percent of their jobs during this same period."

Since May 2008, rural unemployment has increased the most in Oregon and Indiana, the Yonder reports. For the story and state-by-state data, broken down by rural, exurban and metro counties, click here. UPDATE, July 9: Murphy and Bishop look at the rural, exurban and urban counties that have done the best, and worst, over the last year.