The 1990's were a period of prosperity in the U.S. and a period of the longest peacetime economic expansion in U.S. history. This period also marked the beginning of the "new economy" with advances in Internet, information, telecommunications and other production technology that set the stage for a decade that was characterized by robust economic growth. Economic growth and the ensuing prosperity affected every corner of the U.S., with private non-farm employment growth remarkably even across the nation; employment growth was 22 percent for metropolitan counties, and 21.7 percent for non-metropolitan counties.