is often referred to as the "Black Belt." (For example, a current Bill before Congress is aimed at addressing poverty in the "Black Belt." See www.usda.ers.gov for reports in relation to poverty in the "Black Belt" as well). In short, as is the case with Southern Appalachia as well as the Delta Region, areas in the South that have remained persistently distressed over time are those with a high percentage of Blacks.

(The logistic regression model in Appendix C related to distress in the South Region in 2000 indicated that factors having a statistically significant relationship with current distress included high minority populations; low educational attainment; low employment in professional services, and metropolitan location, with counties that were neither within nor proximate to a metropolitan area more likely to be distressed. In terms of counties that remained distressed between 1960 and 2000 and counties that graduated from distress during that period of time, all of the same factors were associated with changing distress. It is also of note that in the logistic regression models related to the South Region, race, in relation to all of the other variables in both models, had a greater relative contribution to explaining economic distress than was the case in models for any other region. At the same time, the results of the model for the South were largely the same as they were in the Delta Region, and to some extent Southern Appalachia, and it is probably best to understand issues of race playing a somewhat similar role in terms of patterns of distress in these as well as other areas).

Thus, and as is the case throughout much of the U.S., race is strongly associated with issues of economic distress in the South, and the Black poverty in the South in many respects imitates patterns of distress in the Delta and Southern Appalachian Regions. (See previous sections on the Delta and Southern Appalachia in relation to this statement). Although the differences in race as it relates to distress are not as disparate in the South Region as they are in the Mississippi Delta and Southern Appalachian regions, there is still a clear link between economic distress in the South and areas with a high percentage of Black residents. For example, in the South's non-distressed counties in 2000, the median black population was 18 percent, compared to 43 percent in counties that were distressed in that year. Similar trends are found when comparing counties that have graduated from distress over time to those that have remained persistently distressed, where counties that graduated from distress between 1960 and 2000 had a median black population of 29 percent, compared to 43 percent in counties that had remained distressed. In some respects, then, the contrasts in the racial make-up of distressed and non-distressed counties in the South, whether understood in terms of current distress or in a county's ability to graduate from distress, do not appear to be quite as vast in the South as they are in the Mississippi Delta Region as well as in Southern Appalachia. More generally, however, and as previously noted, patterns of persistent distress in Southern Appalachia, the South, and the Mississippi Delta Region share a lot in common with one another, with all three of these regions having economic distress directly associated with issues of persistent Black poverty.

On the other hand, patterns of current as well as persistent distress in the South are somewhat different than are found in the neighboring regions of the Delta and Southern Appalachia, as well as in other regions throughout the U.S. Manufacturing trends as they relate to distress in the South contradict patterns in other regions in the U.S. In particular, and in contrast to all other regions in the analysis, median employment in manufacturing is actually higher in distressed rather than in non-distressed counties in the South, and it is also higher in counties that remained distressed over time when compared to counties that graduated from distress. Aside from the Southwest Region, the South is the only historically distressed region included within this research where manufacturing was not associated with counties graduating from distress over time. (See pertinent logistic regression model in Appendix C in this regard). Thus, while higher employment in manufacturing had a positive association with counties graduating from distress in areas such as Central and Southern Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta Region, this pattern does not hold true for the South Region. That distressed counties in the South actually have higher rates of employment in manufacturing than do the non-distressed counties in the region suggests the possibility that many manufacturing firms in the region are paying relatively low wages.

One issue that stands out in relation to positively affecting the changing patterns of distress in the South is that of metropolitan location. In many respects, metropolitan location in the South played perhaps a greater role in contributing to improving economic conditions in the region than it did for any other region in the analysis aside from the Southwest. (The Southwest was the only other region aside from the South where metropolitan location was associated with improving trends in distress). In 2000, 91 percent of the non-distressed counties in the region were either a part of or proximate to a metropolitan area. Only 69 percent of the distressed counties shared this characteristic. Similar patterns are found when comparing counties that graduated from distress to those that remained distressed over time. (Of all the counties in the South that graduated from distress, 85 percent were either within or proximate to a metropolitan area, compared to 67 percent of the distressed counties in the region that met this criteria). Perhaps related to these trends of metropolitan location are patterns in professional service-based employment in the South, with the region having relatively higher employment in this sector than most other regions of the U.S.

(For the entire region, the county-level median employed in professional services in 2000 was 10.9 percent, slightly above the U.S. county-level median of 10.1 percent and higher than the county-level median found in any other persistently distressed region in this analysis).

In general, aside from issues of race, current distress as well as the ability to graduate from distress in the South is linked to issues of metropolitan location as well as employment in professional services, though such employment similarly affects county-level distress patterns in other areas of the U.S. as well. Furthermore, as is also the case in many other regions, levels of educational attainment have also had a positive effect upon improving distress in the South Region.

In general, the story of economic distress in the South is similar to that found in many other regions throughout the U.S. Current and persistent distress in the region largely relates to issues of race. As suggested, perhaps the most notable difference in the South when compared to the other regions is that the percent employed in manufacturing is actually higher in the distressed counties than it is in the non-distressed counties. This is in stark contrast to trends in areas such as Central Appalachia, where the exact opposite is true. Metropolitan location is also clearly important to current and changing economic conditions for counties in the South. While over time the South has experienced similar structural economic change in relation to agriculture as found in the neighboring Mississippi Delta Region, this change has not been quite as dramatic as that found in the Delta.

(As a whole, the South had 10 percent of its population employed in agriculture in 1960, and then 1 percent employed in agriculture in 2000. See the section on the Mississippi Delta Region for a comparison in employment levels in agriculture over time. Also in contrast to the Delta and regions such as Central Appalachia, the South has witnessed relatively greater improvement in conditions of economic distress over time).

The areas that have been left behind in the region are those that have relatively large Black populations.