Favorable rural socioeconomic conditions persist, but not in all areas

摘要

The socioeconomic climate of rural areas remained favorable in the late 1990's, according to the most current economic and population indicators. Unemployment rates continued to fall, and population, employment, and income remained on the rise, albeit more slowly than earlier in the decade. At the same time, favorable economic performance did not benefit all rural people and areas equally. About 27 percent of rural workers, mostly women or minorities, held low-wage jobs in 1999. Furthermore, low-wage employment was clustered in counties in the Great Plains and South. These counties tended to have small populations, locations remote from urban centers, and less diversified economies. This issue of Rural Conditions and Trends (RCaT) provides an assessment of the current conditions and trends in socioeconomic well-being for rural people and places during the late 1990's. The core articles update analyses reported annually by focusing on such topics as population, migration, employment, unemployment,poverty, earnings, and transfer payments. Articles that were new to last year's issue on housing and household food security and hunger are featured again this year. Also returning to the issue is an article based on data from ERS's Rural ManufacturingSurvey that compares rural and urban wage differentials and examines how the business practices of manufacturing firms shape wage levels.