Recent Fed research found that, since 2007, labor force participation rates for those in their prime working years in rural areas have increasingly lagged rates in urban areas.
Labor force participation has been particularly low for those with only a high school diploma or less.1 Research has  1  Alison Weingarden (2017), “Labor Market Outcomes in Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan Areas: Signs of Growing Disparities,” FEDS Notes (Washington: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve  -2also found that business formation and employment growth during the recovery have been concentrated in large urban areas.2 Data and research findings like these remind us that, despite positive trends in national data, the benefits of the ongoing economic expansion are still not reaching some communities.