Characteristics of Poverty in Nonmetro Counties. Rural Development Research Report Number 52 [electronic resource] / Elizabeth S. Morrissey.
Economic growth and federal assistance programs lowered the overall nonmetro poverty rates during the years 1959-80, but uneven distribution of benefits resulted in high poverty rates among rural counties containing populations with distinctive demographic, socioeconomic, and employment characterist...
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| Format: | Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English |
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Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse,
1985.
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| Summary: | Economic growth and federal assistance programs lowered the overall nonmetro poverty rates during the years 1959-80, but uneven distribution of benefits resulted in high poverty rates among rural counties containing populations with distinctive demographic, socioeconomic, and employment characteristics. The 100 rural counties with the highest poverty rates were located in south and southwestern United States and shared certain characteristics when compared with the 100 rural counties having the lowest poverty rate. These characteristics were: more likely to lose population, more rural persons, small total population, lower population density, higher proportion of nonwhites, more families headed by women, larger families, greater work-disabled population, higher poverty rates for elderly, lower levels of formal education, lower per capita personal income, lower average family median income, lower employment rates, predominance of low wage jobs, larger share of self-employment, and greater share of earnings from farming and government employment. Although farms were larger in high poverty rate counties, market value of farm sales compared with poverty rates suggested skewed distribution of wealth and income. Knowing these characteristics can help public officials develop successful antipoverty programs. Supporting graphs and tabular information drawn from federal source data are included. A 14-item bibliography is appended. (LFL) |
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| Item Description: | ERIC Document Number: ED260860. Availability: Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. |
| Physical Description: | 16 p. |
| Audience: | Policymakers. Researchers. |