Rural America, Vol. 16, Issue 3
Douglas Bowers, editor
Rural America No. (ERSRA163)
December 2001
About this magazine
Rural America, a quarterly publication of the Economic Research Service, features articles covering a wide range of topics related to rural development as well as updates of rural social and economic trends.
In this report ...
Articles are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
Contents 47kb
Foreword 55kb
Feature Articles
- Reforming Welfare:
Implications for Rural America (1,226 kb)—The Personal Responsibility
and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act dramatically altered the social safety
net for poor Americans, and raised concerns over the 7.5 million people living
in poverty in nonmetro areas. So far, welfare reform has reduced caseloads, increased
employment, and lessened poverty. While the impact of welfare reform does not
appear to differ greatly between rural and urban areas at the national level,
many studies of individual State welfare programs report smaller welfare reform
impacts on employment and earnings in rural areas than in urban areas. These
smaller effects are due largely to the demographic characteristics of recipients
and to the poorer job opportunities and lack of critical work supports in rural
areas.
- Nonmetro Labor Markets
in the Era of Welfare Reform (893kb)—Despite the economic prosperity of the last decade, nonmetro job growth, earnings, and wage progression seem destined to remain a step behind labor market outcomes in metro areas, often hindering efforts under welfare reform to move recipients into successful employment. The challenge is sometimes more difficult than an overall assessment of nonmetro areas would suggest. First, the demographic
subgroups most in need of public assistance tend to have less education and lower earnings, and to experience higher unemployment, than average. Second, welfare recipients tend to be concentrated in nonmetro areas marked by chronic economic distress, which both contributes to, and reinforces, the need for public assistance. For more information, contact Robert Gibbs.
- Welfare Reforms and Employment of Single Mothers Are Rural Areas Keeping Pace? (92kb)—Changes in social policies in the mid-1990s increased the penalties for not working and raised the rewards for working. These policies played a major role in stimulating employment among single mothers and the gains were approximately as high in nonmetro areas as in metro areas. For more information, contact Robert Lerman.
- Poverty and Welfare Among Rural Female-Headed Families Before and After PRWORA (113kb)—Rural poverty among female-headed families has declined since the new welfare bill was passed in 1996. Moreover, the income of femaleheaded families has increased, while income from earnings has more than offset declines in public assistance income. Rural single mothers nevertheless continue to experience higher rates of poverty than their urban counterparts, and a higher percentage are working but are still poor. For more informaiton, contact Daniel Lichter.
- Is There A Rural Disadvantage in Reducing Welfare and Food Stamp Participation in Mississippi and South Carolina? (134kb)—Rural areas in Mississippi and South Carolina have had more difficulty than urban areas in reducing both cash assistance and food stamp program participation. These rural disadvantages might be overcome by improvements in rural transit to link rural residents to urban jobs and by increased child care and job training in rural counties. For more informaiton, contact Mark Henry.
Rural Updates
Entire report (2,891kb)
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Updated date: December, 2001
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