Workers who use computers on the job receive higher wages, reflecting both computer-specific and broader skills. This accounts for a small portion of the metro-nonmetro wage gap. The payoff for using a computer on the job is higher for college graduates and more-experienced workers than their counterparts and is higher for rural than urban…

One third of rural Appalachian counties are distressed. Central Appalachia has particularly high poverty, unemployment, and dropout rates. Appalachia received more per capita federal funds than the U.S. average, but only in urban areas. Appalachia received less than average funding for community resources and human resources, which create jobs and…

From 1960 to 2000, total expenses to rear a rural child to age 18 increased in real terms. Food expenses decreased, but child care and educational expenses increased more. Details are presented on child-rearing expenditures by low-, middle-, and higher-income rural and urban families on housing, food, transportation, clothing, health care, child…

Employment and earnings increased in nonmetro areas during the 1990s, but less than in urban areas. The metro-nonmetro earnings gap reached a historical high in 1998 as businesses that used advanced technologies avoided rural locations where professional and skilled workers were in short supply. Metro and nonmetro employment and income data by…

The Lower Mississippi Delta region, especially the rural Delta, faces many economic challenges. The rural Delta has received much federal aid in basic income support and funding for human resource development, but less for community resource programs, which are important for economic development. Federal aid to the Delta is analyzed in terms of…

A study of characteristics and motives of migrants to the Northern Great Plains surveyed 1,590 new residents in Nebraska and North Dakota. New arrivals were younger and had higher educational levels than existing residents. Most often cited reasons for moving were desire to be closer to relatives, safety concerns, and quality of the natural…

In 2000 the nonmetro poverty rate was 13.4 percent, the lowest level on record; was 2.8 percentage points higher than the metro rate; and was highest in the West and the South, which also had the largest rural-urban disparities. The nonmetro child poverty rate was 19 percent, compared to 13 percent for nonelderly adults, a persistent disparity for…

Draws on the 1998 Current Population Survey to examine the poverty status and welfare recipient status of rural and urban children under 18 to inform policymakers about potential effects of welfare reform. Discusses the effects of rural versus urban residence, region, household type, race, parental age, parental education, and parental employment…

Poverty rates increased in the early 1990s, but between 1994 and 1999 the metro child poverty rate declined 6 percentage points and the nonmetro rate declined 4 percent. In 1999, the poverty rate for nonmetro Black children was about double that of nonmetro White children, but the Black-White gap in poverty narrowed between 1985 and 1999. (TD)

The average weekly earnings of nonmetro wage and salary workers continued to rise through 2001, although the pace has ebbed slightly since 2000. Earnings have grown steadily among all major demographic groups, although less educated workers experienced smaller gains than college graduates. Gains for less-educated workers suggest that welfare…

The percentage of high school graduates in the rural South improved during the 1990s but lagged behind urban figures; the percentage of rural college graduates grew slightly. Rural-urban differences in educational attainment were even greater among minorities. The rural-urban income gap also widened and is not expected to improve, with few new…

The gap in household income between nonmetro households and those in other locations increased between 1979 and 1999, as did disparities by race and ethnicity across residence. Industrial restructuring, increased demand for more-educated workers, changing household structure, and women's labor force participation may influence income levels and…

Rural poverty among female-headed families with children has declined since 1996 welfare reforms. Moreover, the income of female-headed families has increased, while income from earnings has more than offset declines in public assistance income. Rural single mothers nevertheless continue to experience higher poverty rates than their urban…

Surveys of rural and urban businesses and households in northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin found that: only 25 percent of firms had trouble hiring skilled workers; required skills were not particularly high-tech; few firms used public or private education providers in their skill training activities; and the labor force was overtrained…

The South's recent rapid growth has not erased its widespread poverty and low levels of human capital. The rural South remains the nation's low-income and high-poverty region, and low education levels may limit the rural South's prospects for development. Underlying social and economic conditions that depend on and reinforce a low-skill population…