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The Cost of Living and
the Geographic Distribution of Poverty—The prevalence
of poverty has been greater in nonmetro areas than in
metro areas in every year since the 1960s when poverty
rates were first officially recorded. This study suggests
that adjusting poverty measures to account for cost-of-living
differences between metro and nonmetro areas reverses
that ranking.
Health Status and Health
Care Access of Farm and Rural Populations—Rural
residents have higher rates of age-adjusted mortality,
disability, and chronic disease than their urban counterparts,
though mortality and disability rates vary more by region
than by metro status. Contributing negatively to the health
status of rural residents is their lower socioeconomic
status, higher incidence of both smoking and obesity,
and lower levels of physical activity. Contributing negatively
to the health status of farmers are the high risks from
workplace hazards, which also affect other members of
farm families who live on the premises and often share
in the work; contributing positively are farmers'
higher socioeconomic status, lower incidence of smoking,
and more active lifestyle. Both farm and rural populations
experience lower access to health care along the dimensions
of affordability, proximity, and quality, compared with
their nonfarm and urban counterparts.
Low-Skill Employment and
the Changing Economy of Rural America—This study
reports trends in rural low-skill employment in the 1990s
and their impact on the rural workforce. 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 the entire
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.
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