9 in 10 new jobs since recession are in major metros; rural areas haven't recovered the jobs they've lost since 2007

Map by The Daily Yonder using Bureau of Labor Statistics data
Click on the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version.

The national unemployment rate is 3.8 percent, suggesting that jobs are plentiful for those who want them. But an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics yearly employment data shows that that almost nine out of 10 new jobs created since 2007 have gone to large metropolitan areas, and that rural America hasn't recovered the jobs lost in the recession that began in 2007.

"The nation’s cities, suburbs and exurbs all had more jobs in 2018 than they did in 2007, before the economic collapse that sent the world economy into depression. The nation’s rural counties, however, had 780,000 fewer jobs in 2018 than they did in 2007," Bill Bishop reports for The Daily Yonder. "The nation’s metro areas gained 11.4 million jobs since 2007, an increase of more than 9 percent. Rural America in the same time period lost 3.7 percent of its jobs."

A few other interesting trends emerged. Upstate New York lost jobs in rural and urban areas, and four large metro counties on the Great Lakes (those that make up most of Detroit, Cleveland, and Erie and Rochester in New York) had the biggest job losses of any large metro area. Meanwhile, the oil and gas boom in parts of Texas and the Upper Great Plains increased rural employment there.