The unemployment rate in the Rural Capital Area fell to 2.8% in 2019 (an average of twelve months), the lowest rate since 1999.  The decline in the rate has been dramatic since the recession, when unemployment peaked at 7.3% in 2010.

Unemployment rates in the Rural Capital Area have always been lower than the US average, though the dot-com bust in 2001-2002 saw rates that were comparable.  The Rural Capital Area largely avoided the sky-high rates seen across the US during the most recent recession, when the US rate reached 9.6% in 2010.