ResourceShelf
http://www.resourceshelf.com/2007/01/28/new-usda-economic-research-service-briefing-room-rural-labor-and-education/
Briefing Room: Rural Labor and Education
Overview
The Rural Labor and Education Briefing Room provides information about
the employment and earnings characteristics of rural, or nonmetro,
workers and places, as well as education in nonmetro areas. The chapter
on farm labor contains information on the demographic and economic
characteristics of hired farmworkers, many of whom work on farms in
urban, or metro, areas.
Unemployment rates in nonmetro areas are similar on average to rates in
metro areas, though with wide geographic variation. Average earnings,
however, are substantially lower among nonmetro workers, as are
education levels. The lower nonmetro earnings levels reflect lower
shares of highly skilled jobs and lower returns to college degrees in
nonmetro labor markets.
Features
Rural Employment At A Glance—Rural Employment At A Glance is a six-page
brochure that highlights the most recent indicators of employment and
unemployment in rural areas. It documents changes and differences in
metro and nonmetro employment growth, unemployment, earnings per job,
and occupational mix, as well as differences across nonmetro areas by
location and county type. See all At A Glance reports in the series,
including reports on education and rural Hispanics.
Rural America At A Glance, 2006 Edition—The 2006 edition, a six-page
brochure, highlights recent indicators of social and economic conditions
in rural areas, including employment, health, and the impacts of energy
price increases and international migration. See all At A Glance reports
in the series.
Education as a Rural Development Strategy—Educational attainment in
rural America reached a historic high in 2000, with nearly one in six
rural adults holding a 4-year college degree, and more than three in
four completing high school. As the demand for workers with higher
educational qualifications rises, many rural policymakers have come to
view local educational levels as a critical determinant of job and
income growth in their communities. This Amber Waves article examines
the relationship between workforce education and economic growth, and
the questions faced by policymakers.
Recommended Readings
Low-Skill Employment and the Changing Economy of Rural America—The share
of rural jobs classified as low-skill fell by 2.2 percentage points
between 1990 and 2000, twice the decline of the urban low-skill
employment share, but much less than the decline of the 1980s.
Employment shifts from low-skill to skilled occupations within
industries, rather than changes in industry mix, explain virtually all
of the decline in the rural low-skill employment share. The share
decline was particularly large for rural Black women, many of whom moved
out of low-skill blue-collar work into service occupations, while the
share of rural Hispanics who held low-skill jobs increased.
The Role of Education: Promoting the Economic and Social Vitality of
Rural America —This publication reports findings from a 2003 conference
on rural education and economic development sponsored by ERS, the
Southern Rural Development Center (SRDC), and the Rural School and
Community Trust. Offering insight into the important and often fragile
relationship between rural schools and communities in America, the
report comprises nine articles divided into three area-specific
sections: (1) Education, Human Capital and the Local Economy, (2) Links
Between Rural Schools and Communities, and (3) Creating Successful Rural
Schools and Students.
Meat-Processing Firms Attract Hispanic Workers to Rural America—Over the
past 40 years, the U.S. meat-processing industry has been transformed by
changing consumer preferences for meat products, which helped trigger a
consolidation within the industry and a relocation of processing plants
to rural areas. Bucking trends in the manufacturing sector, meat
processing has gained employment. Rapid population growth and geographic
dispersion of Hispanics since the 1990s has helped meet the labor needs
of rural-based meat-processing plants and altered rural communities.
Recommended Data Products
State and County Education Data—State- and county-level education data
from the 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000 Censuses of Population. Compare and
rank States or counties in a State on any one of four levels of
educational attainment. The data can be downloaded in Excel spreadsheets.
County-level Unemployment and Median Household Income—State- and
county-level unemployment rates for the latest 6 years, and the latest
median household income figures for States and counties. Sort and rank
States, and the counties within a State on these indicators; view a
county's income as a percentage of the State's income. Data come from
the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau.
Farm and Farm-Related Employment—Estimates of farm and farm-related
employment by State, farm production region, and farm resource region
provide valuable information about the importance of agriculture in
various geographic areas of the country. Farm and farm-related
industries, such as farm production, processing and marketing of
agricultural goods, and agricultural wholesale and retail trade, are
generally identified as industries having 50 percent or more of their
national workforce employed in providing goods and services necessary to
satisfy the final demand for agricultural products.
More: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/LaborAndEducation/
