We use county-level data to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the tourism and hospitality sector, which was by far the most impacted of all sectors, focusing on employment and wage changes. Results support our hypothesis that rural counties experienced fewer negative impacts or even benefited from the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of job growth . We present maps showing the pandemic’s effects on leisure and hospitality (L&H) employment across the nation, identifying the communities both hardest hit and least impacted. A linear regression model is developed to explore independent factors that influenced the pandemic’s local impact. Results are robust across different measures of the key variable (rurality), including rural-urban continuum codes, distance from metropolitan areas, and population density. We also consider the impacts of social capital, income, and local economic diversification, among other factors. Our results suggest that remote, less-populated counties were more likely to experience stable employment in the L&H sector relative to pre-pandemic levels, and in some cases even experienced employment growth. JEL Classification: J2, J3, R1

The U.S. urban‐rural export gap is important given the share of manufactured goods in exports, the rural concentration of manufacturing activity, and recent federal investments in place‐based policy. These investments raise questions about the size of the export gap and whether it is explained by differences in endowments or inherent rural disadvantages. Confidential trade data linked with business survey data alongside county‐level variables allow an Oaxaca‐Blinder decomposition of the export gapUrban factors compensate for a less trade favorable industry mix, including the advantages of urban scale in export performance which may be insurmountable for rural areas.