An Iowa State University study finds Iowa’s job rate grew by more than seven percent in the decade since the Great Recession, but that growth was very lopsided. I-S-U economist Dave Swenson says between 2007 and 2018, jobs in Iowa’s metro areas grew by nine percent, while the state’s rural areas saw jobs fall by two percent.

Swenson notes that Iowa’s jobless rate didn’t take as great of a hit during the recession, falling just over two-percent compared to a five-and-a-half-percent drop nationally. Using federal data, Swenson found the state’s strongest job gains were in real estate and rental or leasing, which includes farmland rentals, while the greatest loss was in durable goods manufacturing.