Rural Unemployment

Rural unemployment is a topic that does not get the attention it deserves. It is an important aspect of our economy that is usually overlooked by the media, as well as most Americans. This article is here to explain to you the impact this unemployment rate has on America, and why it has always been higher than the unemployment rates of urban areas. First, let’s examine why those two unemployment rates are so different in America today.
There are 2 main reasons why the unemployment rate in non-metro areas is higher than the one in urban areas. First, many of jobs in rural areas require a physical effort, and With technology in the world getting more and more advanced, robots are replacing human labor faster than ever. This results in employers in rural areas to use more and more robots, as they are significantly cheaper to use than an actual salary that would instead be paid to a “human” worker. The second main reason why the rural unemployment rate is higher than the urban’s is the fact that actual jobs are becoming rarer and rarer. This is due to both the more frequent use of robots, but also the fact that overseas competition is getting tougher. With cheaper products coming from outside countries, the demand for goods created in rural areas is decreasing, leading to business leaving those rural areas, and installing themselves in urban areas, where the costs of productions are much cheaper.
The results of this high unemployment rate in non-metro areas are pretty obvious. First, as expected, poverty went up as the unemployment rate went up in rural areas, so there is a lot of poverty. As a matter of fact, 95 percent of persistent poverty counties in the U.S. are rural, while only 2 percent of persistent poverty counties are urban. Persistent poverty is a classification for counties in the United States that have had a relatively high rate of poverty over a long period. Poverty in rural areas create a moral differenciation of how people see the non-metro areas.

Now we can talk about what you can do to help with this growing problem. The solutions to the problem seem to be very local, meaning the ways you can help can be included in your habits of everyday. For example as stated above, the main problems of high rural unemployment is the fact that business located in rural areas often fail. So to help, everyone can for example, buy products from companies located in those rural areas. Often those companies do not have the funds to export their products very far, so the rural products from farmers around where you live are products only found in markets around where you live. You can also try to get in contact with your representatives in the government, to try to create change at a national help. Remember, anything helps!

Now we can talk about what you can do to help with this growing problem. The solutions to the problem seem to be very local, meaning the ways you can help can be included in your habits of everyday. For example as stated above, the main problems of high rural unemployment is the fact that business located in rural areas often fail. So to help, everyone can for example, buy products from companies located in those rural areas. Often those companies do not have the funds to export their products very far, so the rural products from farmers around where you live are products only found in markets around where you live. You can also try to get in contact with your representatives in the government, to try to create change at a national help. Remember, anything helps! You can find below a link to get to a page where you can email Leonard Lance, a New Jersey Congressman.