Low Skill Employment and the Changing Economy of Rural America

Robert Gibbs () and Lorin D. Kusmin

No 33595, Economic Research Report from United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service

Abstract: 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 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.

Keywords: Community/Rural/Urban Development; Labor and Human Capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 32
Date: 2005
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:uersrr:33595

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.33595

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