ABSTRACT
Between 1970 and 1979, nonmetropolitan counties of the United States (US) had a 23.9% increase in manufacturing jobs. The US Congress has tried to harness this industrial migration trend and use it as a policy instrument to deal with the issues of rural poverty and urban crisis. The structure of employment in rural areas is becoming more diversified. Consequently, the mental habit of equating rural industrialization with manufacturing is no longer appropriate. The subsequent rural-to-urban migration ultimately created a surplus of labor in many urban areas and left pockets of poverty in rural areas with stagnant economies. Relief from poverty, unemployment, the fiscal crunch in government, and improvements in the quality and quantity of public services are all noble goals for rural America. In two-thirds of the cases of rural plant locations, the rate of unemployment has declined.
