Small-town U.S.A. falls further behind urban America in job opportunities after recession

City dwellers really do have it much better than rural inhabitants, at least when it comes to job opportunities in the 21st century. After looking at who’s working in urban and rural areas, the Federal Reserve found that the labor market began to recover earlier and improve much faster in cities than in the countryside. While there’s always been a gap, it’s become more severe during the current expansion. The yawning gap between city and country is most glaring in what’s known as the labor force participation rate. That is, the percentage of the working-age population that either has a job or is looking for one.Let’s start with urbanites. The percentage of prime-aged (25-54-year-old) residents who were working or looking for work climbed to 83% at the end of 2018 and finally topped the pre-recession average.By contrast, the participation rate for prime-aged rural Americans has recovered more slowly and is still under 80%. The rate had fallen to as low as 78.5% in the wake of the recession.