Rural counties continue to experience job growth

Rural America continues to add more jobs. From October 2013 to October 2014, rural areas added 428,000 jobs—a 2.1 percent increase—and a significant increase over numbers from September 2013 to September 2014 when rural areas added 208,000 jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bill Bishop reports for the Daily Yonder. From October 2013 to October 2014, metro areas added 3.4 million jobs, an increase of 2.7 percent.

"The unemployment rate in rural counties, however, dropped below the rate in the cities," Bishop writes. The rate in rural counties with small cities—between 10,000 and 50,000 residents—was 5.3 percent, and it was 5.5 percent in rural counties with no town larger than 10,000 people, Bishop writes. The rate in metro areas was 5.6 percent. (For an interactive version of this Yonder map, click here)