Rural America, Vol. 15, Issue 4

Douglas Bowers, editor

Rural America No. (154) March 2001

About this magazine

Rural America, Vol. 15, Issue 4, is a special issue on the rural South, with articles covering education, housing, job training, welfare reform, child well-being, demographic trends, and poverty.

In this report ...

Articles are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.

Contents

Editor's Notebook

Feature Articles

• New South, Old Challenges--The South's rapid population and job growth in the last half of the 20th century reflects its integration into the national economic and social mainstream. But growth has not erased the region's widespread poverty and low levels of human capital. And in many of parts of the rural South, the underlying economic and social conditions that depended on, and reinforced, a low-skill population are far from disappearing. Robert Gibbs.

• Migrants in the Rural South Choose Urban and Natural Amenities--The rural South added over 16 million people from migration since the early 1970's. But population growth and economic development persistently favor areas with specific attributes attractive to migrants. Both urban and natural amenities--such as high-tech jobs and favorable climates--have delineated areas of high rural growth from places left behind, and exacerbated rural economic development problems that fall along lines of race, income, and education. John B. Cromartie.

• New Economy Manufacturing Meets Old Economy Education Policies in the Rural South--Despite growth in services, manufacturing remains a vital part of the rural South's economic base, responsible for nearly one in every three dollars earned in its private sector. Much of the manufacturing was attracted to the region by low-cost labor and low taxes. But manufacturing is changing, adopting new technologies and management practices and seeking more highly skilled labor. Rural manufacturers in Southern counties high in manufacturing have few complaints about State and local taxes, but these counties also have low revenue per pupil in their school systems. Poor schools are likely to be a barrier to attracting advanced technology manufacturing, limiting the ability of these counties to participate in the New Economy. David A. McGranahan.

• Educated Workforce, Quality Jobs: Still Elusive Goals in the Rural South--Adult rural Southerners have made remarkable progress in improving their educational status over the past decade, but quality jobs requiring college-educated workers remain more a dream than a reality in the rural South. The most rapidly growing segments of the rural Southern economy are paying wages and salaries that are well below those paid to metro-based Southerners. Consequently, the gap in average earnings has widened between Southern metro and nonmetro workers during the 1990's. Projected job expansion over 1996-2005 offers little hope for improvement since the majority of such jobs will demand persons with no more than a terminal high school education and some on-the-job training. Lionel J. Beaulieu, Melissa A. Barfield, and Katherine L. Stone.

• Most Persistently Poor Rural Counties in the South Remained Poor in 1995--Estimates for 1995 suggest that only a tenth of persistently poor counties in the South may have reduced their poverty rate to less than 20 percent during the early 1990's, despite the overall strength of the rural economy. More Southern nonmetro counties appear to have fallen back into deeper poverty. Trends in population, income, employment, and business formation corroborate the poverty trends. Empowerment Zones, Enterprise Communities, and Champion Communities have been instituted in some of these areas. More areas may need broad-based development strategies to substantially reduce poverty in the rural South. Linda M. Ghelfi.

• Factors Affecting High Child Poverty in the Rural South--Child poverty in the 1990's remained high, especially in the rural South. In 1998, the poverty rate for children in the rural South was nearly 27 percent, compared with 17 percent for rural children in the rest of the Nation. A higher proportion of poor children in the rural South are in severe poverty, a level of family income under 50 percent of the poverty level. Poor children are more likely to live in mother-only families, to be Black, and to have parents who are younger, less educated, and not employed. The composition of the rural South's population contributes to the region's high child poverty. Carolyn C. Rogers.

• Welfare Reform: Remedy for Persistent Poverty in the South?--During the 1990's the South was more successful in reducing welfare caseloads than other regions, most likely because of strong employment growth in its metropolitan centers. However, poverty persists in many rural areas of the South, and participation in welfare programs would likely increase should the economy cool. Without open-ended Federal matching funds to meet added demands for cash assistance, Southern States would be forced to cut work support programs or use general revenues to supplement the Federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families block grant. Mark S. Henry and Willis Lewis.

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Updated date: March 2001