Profiles personal characteristics and employment of 1,131 long-term Kentucky residents (71%), early migrants (12%), and late migrants (17%) in 1979. Indicates early migrants, with 5-10 years residence, earned more, despite similar characteristics, than long-term residents and recent migrants. Identifies factors influencing wages for each group in…

After decade of growth, rural income, population, and overall economic activity have stalled and again lag behind urban trends. Causes include banking and transportation deregulation, international competition, agricultural finance problems. Only nonmetropolitan counties dependent on retirement, government, and trade show continuing income growth…

Emergence of a dual agricultural system, need for sophisticated knowledge and equipment, declining importance of labor, and geographic and organizational concentration of the production and processing of certain commodities are creating changes in rural communities. While some changes will have negative social/economic impacts, the importance of…

Income has become somewhat more concentrated among upper-income families since 1967 and growth of total income has slowed since 1973. Both trends suggest a widening income gap between metro and nonmetro areas because nonmetro areas have a higher proportion of low-income families and slower income growth. (JHZ)

Effective rural development planning depends on facts and analysis based, not on rural averages, but on the diverse social and economic structure of rural America. Programs tailored to particular types of rural economies may be more effective than generalized programs. Because of their unique characteristics, government policies and economic…

Symposium participants concentrated on maintaining the economic viability of agriculture through improved agribusiness techniques including increased individual and collective marketing strategies and greater responsiveness to consumer demands. Related problems were decline of roads and bridges, competition with nonagricultural users for rural…

This workshop collection contains a paper which analyzes the actual and potential income and wealth sources of rural inhabitants, an appendix which discusses the effectiveness of current transfer payment programs in reaching the rural poor, and a reviewer's comments. The paper by Emery Castle and Mark Goldstein describes incomes of rural residents…

Rural areas' population growth, location, level of economic activity and social well-being depend less on natural resource endowments than on such factors as transportation, communication, labor force characteristics, and urbanization. General causes of the 1970's urban-to-rural migration included fewer changes in the structure of agriculture,…