Rural America makes small job gains, but issues with child care and education may be preventing bigger gains

Graph shows a gap in recovery rates of rural and urban counties.
(The Daily Yonder graph, from Bureau of Labor Statistics data)

As rural American makes headway in post-pandemic labor numbers, larger problems still prevent a full recovery in some counties, reports Sarah Melotte of The Daily Yonder. "Rural America added more than 200,000 jobs over the past year but is still below pre-pandemic employment levels, according to a Daily Yonder analysis. The failure to reach full recovery three and a half years after the start of the pandemic is related to larger trends, including an aging population, lack of childcare, and lower levels of formal education, according to an economist."

Overall, rural employment grew a percentage point in September, but still "has 64,000 fewer jobs this year than it did the same time in 2019, before the pandemic," Melotte writes. Elizabeth Davis, a professor of applied economics at the University of Minnesota, told Melotte, "Rural areas took a hit." Melotte notes, "Rural counties haven't fully recovered from the 2008 financial crisis, much less the drop in employment brought on by the pandemic, Davis said."

The Daily Yonder graphic, from Bureau of Labor Statistics data

At the beginning of the pandemic, rural employment was more stable than urban. "Rural counties were actually ahead of urban ones in employment recovery for the first year of the pandemic," Melotte reports. "After that, urban gains eclipsed rural gains in employment. . . . . .  Rural counties made up 95 of the top 100 counties with the most employment loss. . . . Only 43% of rural counties have returned to pre-pandemic or better employment numbers, while about two-thirds of urban counties have."

Rural resources and populations differ and those variances make labor comparisons within rural counties difficult, but the lack of child care could be a common problem. "There are a few demographic factors Davis said might be at play in employment recovery." She told Melotte: "We hear a lot of employers concerned about the lack of childcare because they can't find workers. They hear from their workers and their families that they can't find child care, so they can't work, or can't work full time."

Fewer than half of rural counties have as many jobs now as they did before the pandemic, according to a Yonder analysis, which includes an interactive map. Here's a screenshot:

Map by Sarah Melotte of The Daily Yonder via Datawrapper, adapted by The Rural Blog; click on it to enlarge.