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Health Status and Health
Care Access of Farm and Rural Populations—Rural
residents have higher rates of age-adjusted mortality,
disability, and chronic disease than their urban counterparts,
though mortality and disability rates vary more by region
than by metro status. Contributing negatively to the health
status of rural residents are their lower socioeconomic
status, higher incidence of both smoking and obesity,
and lower levels of physical activity. Contributing negatively
to the health status of farmers are the high risks from
workplace hazards, which also affect other members of
farm families who live on the premises and often share
in the work; contributing positively are farmers’
higher socioeconomic status, lower incidence of smoking,
and more active lifestyle. Both farm and rural populations
experience lower access to health care along the dimensions
of affordability, proximity, and quality, compared with
their nonfarm and urban counterparts.
Profile of Hired Farmworkers,
A 2008 Update—Hired farmworkers make up a third
of the total agricultural labor force and are critical
to U.S. agricultural production, particularly in labor-intensive
sectors such as fruits and vegetables. The 2008 update
provides expanded sections on legal status, poverty, housing,
and use of social services. See also the related Amber
Waves feature article, Hired
Farmworkers a Major Input for Some U.S. Farm Sectors.
Rural
Employment At A Glance—Rural Employment At
A Glance is a six-page brochure that highlights the
most recent indicators of employment and unemployment
in rural areas. It documents changes and differences
in metro and nonmetro employment growth, unemployment,
earnings per job, and occupational mix, as well as
differences across nonmetro areas by location and county
type. See all
At A Glance reports in the series, including reports
on education and rural Hispanics.
Education
as a Rural Development Strategy—Educational
attainment in rural America reached a historic high
in 2000, with nearly one in six rural adults holding
a 4-year college degree, and more than three in four
completing high school. As the demand for workers with
higher educational qualifications rises, many rural
policymakers have come to view local educational levels
as a critical determinant of job and income growth
in their communities. This Amber Waves article
examines the relationship between workforce education
and economic growth, and the questions faced by policymakers.
Low-Skill Employment and
the Changing Economy of Rural America—The
share of rural jobs classified as low-skill fell by
2.2 percentage points between 1990 and 2000, twice
the decline of the urban low-skill employment share,
but much less than the decline of the 1980s. Employment
shifts from low-skill to skilled occupations within
industries, rather than changes in industry mix, explain
virtually all of the decline in the rural low-skill
employment share. The share decline was particularly
large for rural Black women, many of whom moved out
of low-skill blue-collar work into service occupations,
while the share of rural Hispanics who held low-skill
jobs increased.
The
Role of Education: Promoting the Economic and Social Vitality
of Rural America  —This
publication reports findings from a 2003 conference on
rural education and economic development sponsored by
ERS, the Southern Rural Development Center (SRDC), and
the Rural School and Community Trust. Offering insight
into the important and often fragile relationship between
rural schools and communities in America, the report comprises
nine articles divided into three area-specific sections:
(1) Education, Human Capital and the Local Economy, (2)
Links Between Rural Schools and Communities, and (3) Creating
Successful Rural Schools and Students.
Meat-Processing
Firms Attract Hispanic Workers to Rural America—Over
the past 40 years, the U.S. meat-processing industry has
been transformed by changing consumer preferences for
meat products, which helped trigger a consolidation within
the industry and a relocation of processing plants to
rural areas. Bucking trends in the manufacturing sector,
meat processing has gained employment. Rapid population
growth and geographic dispersion of Hispanics since the
1990s has helped meet the labor needs of rural-based meat-processing
plants and altered rural communities.
See
all recommended readings...
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