Rural counties' unemployment rate is 8.7 percent

"Rural unemployment rates are now firmly above jobless numbers in urban areas and the country as a whole," Bill Bishop reports on the Daily Yonder. The rate in rural counties in February was 8.7 percent; the national rate was 8.1 percent.

Green counties were at or below the national average; orange ones were above it. Gray counties are metropolitan. For a larger version of the map, click on it. For an interactive version, with actual numbers of the employed and unemployed, click here.