New Rural Labor Indicators from the Kansas City Fed Highlight Key Differences in Farming-Concentrated Counties

Jason Brown, Nathan Kauffman and Shu-Kuei X. Yang

Economic Bulletin, 2026, 4

Abstract: The Kansas City Fed’s Center for Agriculture and the Economy has released new Rural Labor Indicators (RLI) that compare labor market outcomes in farming-concentrated counties—located mainly in the Great Plains and western Corn Belt—with those in other nonmetro and metro counties. These indicators show that while employment growth fluctuates less over the business cycle in farming-concentrated counties, unemployment and wages in these counties are more sensitive to swings in farm product prices.

Keywords: labor market; rural areas; rural economy; Rural-urban gaps; employment growth; Agricultural prices (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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