The recession began in December 2007. Four years later, job losses in rural counties surpass those in urban or exurban communities.

Columbus, Nebraska, has a problem. The rural town has jobs, but it can't find workers to fill them. Columbus officials have gone on recruiting missions to find new residents, but they've discovered that there are reasons people can't move.

The unemployment rate in rural America dropped to its lowest level since December of 2008, as rural counties continued to add jobs. Job growth was particularly strong in the Southeast.

Not every year can be like 2010, when the Daily Yonder 40, the stock index of rural America, rose by more than 30 percent. 2011 was nothing, not up, but down by only a smidgen. On to '12.