When it comes to job opportunities, the gap between urban and rural offerings is growing. The Federal Reserve recently found that the labor market is recovering earlier and faster in cities than in the country.
The labor force participation rate, or the share of residents of working age with a job or currently looking for one, has the greatest divide. In urban areas, the rate was 83 percent at the end of 2018, while in rural areas, the rate is still under 80 percent. MarketWatch reports that the major reason driving the gap is "the long and ongoing shift in the economy from one based on manufacturing to one based on services, a process that began decades ago."
“Despite the strength in the past two years, the share of total employment in manufacturing has remained near its post-recession low,” the Fed concluded. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell discussed rural poverty in a recent speech.
“In Appalachia for instance, timber, coal mining, tobacco, and textiles have long been in decline,” he said. “Likewise, the number of jobs in agriculture and low-skilled manufacturing, mainstays of the Delta’s economy, is decreasing as a result of automation and outsourcing.”
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