Employment Growth in Metro and Nonmetro America: A Change in the Pattern

摘要

Economic growth in nonmetro areas, which spurted ahead of metro growth in the early seventies, has been losing its momentum. The annual rate of job growth in metro areas rose from 1.5 percent in 1969-73 to 2.2 percent in 1973-79, while the nonmetro rate remained essentially unchanged. In examining the stability of metro, nonmetro, and regional employment growth during the seventies, this study finds that growth patterns in the decade's second business cycle (1973-79) were not always those established in its first business cycle (1969-73). Thus, caution should be used in extending the metro/nonmetro growth patterns of the early seventies into the eighties.