|
|
 |
|
Thomas McDonald, USDA/ERS
|
County Typology Team
How can policymakers help attract residents to rural
areas that have rapidly declining populations? What is the relationship
between high poverty rates and population density or proximity to
urban areas? Is the workforce in some remote rural areas less educated
because teens are dropping out of school or because the more highly
educated are leaving for better opportunities elsewhere? The analytical
foundation for answering these questions is the ERS County Typology.
Led by Linda Ghelfi, the County Typology Team unites experts from
several social science backgrounds—economics, sociology, demography,
geography—to design a classification scheme that is adaptable
to a wide variety of analyses. The typology includes such indicators
as population size and nearness to metro centers, dominant industry,
and whether a county is persistently poor or a retirement destination.
The synthesis and study of all these traits helps policymakers tailor
rural development programs and initiatives so that the right funds
go to the right places. For example, the typology will be useful
in the administration of the new Department of Health and Human
Services Frontier Communities Program authorized in the last Congress
to provide health assistance to needy rural areas.
The team recently redesigned the typology to better reflect current
conditions. Updated with data from the 2000 Census and new industry
data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the typology also reflects
the new metropolitan, micropolitan, and noncore county definitions
developed by the Office of Management and Budget in June 2003.
“Times change as technology improves and preferences morph,”
says Ghelfi. “I like to think of our new typology as keeping
pace with shifting rural conditions, with continued emphasis on
traits that may merit public intervention.”
County Typology Team Members: (l
to r) Robert Gibbs, Timothy Parker, Dean Jolliffe, Calvin Beale,
Richard Reeder, Linda Ghelfi, William Kandel, David McGranahan,
James Mikesell, and John Cromartie.
|
Download
PDF version