Larger metro areas are defined as metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with a population of 500,000 or larger, while smaller metro areas are MSAs with population between 100,000 and 500,000, and nonmetro areas are the remainder; see Weingarden (2017). 17 This gap appears to be a post-crisis phenomenon for women, while for men the gap began to widen in the 1990s.
They include high industrial-capacity utilization; a record-high labour force participation rate; a record-high employment-to-population ratio; corporate profits at their highest level since early 2001; and trend inflation that is running above target.