Rural Labour-Market Changes in the United States

This chapter reviews theoretical interpretations of trends in labour-markets in the US; especially those that have addressed changes in rural labour-market areas. It argues that it is increasingly necessary to link directly the mainstream theoretical arguments with rural labour-market changes. Moreover, only 28.6 per cent of the rural labour-market areas are dominated by employment in the primary industry sector. The growing importance of service and manufacturing industries in rural labour-markets is also revealed in the distribution of employment by occupation if one accepts the argument that white-collar occupations are predominantly in the service producing industries and that manufacturing industries are dominated by blue-collar occupations. As the theory emphasizes economic interdependence among urban places of varying sizes, it promises to offer guidance for those searching for ways of stimulating labour demand in rural labour-market areas by linking the system of cities with export base theory.