Friday, Apr 19 2013 3:52PM

Unemployment rates in rural locations have exceeded the urban and national rates.

The unemployment rate for rural areas surpassed both the national and urban jobless rates in February after months of posting lower incidences of unemployment, according to the Daily Yonder.

Citing data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Daily Yonder reports that the rural jobless rate sat at 8.9 percent in rural areas, high above the 8 percent rate or urban areas and the national rate of 7.7 percent. While the jobless rate in rural America is far below the 9.2 percent rate in February 2012, and the 9.3 percent rate in January of this year, rates are not falling as quickly in rural areas as they are in urban ones or on a national scale. 

Several government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), are seeking applications for funding requests from rural businesses to help spark job growth. In addition, the agency recently announced several initiatives it is undertaking to help strengthen economic community development in these sparsely populated locations and promote job growth and education. For example, the USDA is partnering with rural electric utility service providers to improve infrastructure and boost system reliability for businesses and homeowners.

In a separate initiative, the federal agency also plans to build a more extensive broadband network to ensure that businesses have greater access to the information and resources they need to operate successful enterprises. Through these initiatives, federal agencies hope to make rural businesses more attractive and help them become profitable enough to expand and hire more workers. 

For more information, check out this resource: The Daily Yonder