Search

Anomalies found in the application of Warren's "great change" theory to Haskell County, Kansas, led to use of multiple approaches including the ecological, interactional, and critical theoretical frameworks. These techniques expanded the understanding of social relations and social change in rural communities. (SK)

Analyzes concentration of employment opportunities for different socioeconomic groups in different local labor-market areas (LMAs). Uses regression analysis of 1980 census data. Finds rural LMAs offer fewer opportunities. Gender differences in occupational concentrations relate to industrial composition of labor market. Racial difference is indicated by Blacks' higher rates working in large, densely populated LMAs. (TES)

Examines trends in nature of work and workers' educational achievement levels in rural and urban regions. While most rural industries specialize in "routine" manufacturing, the South and West have grown in "complex" (often high-tech) manufacturing jobs. Suggests key to growth of complex jobs is worker education. (Author/TES)

Examines the feasibility of "workfare," a key feature of welfare reform. Uses Current Population Survey (1986) and Bureau of Labor Statistics (1988) to estimate the ratio of potential workfare workers to available jobs. Concludes that, at best, this ratio is 6.2:1 in nonmetro areas and 11.0:1 in metro areas. (SV)

A rural economic restructuring perspective and central place theory are used to assess the impact of population change on retail/wholesale sector employment for the 438 nonmetropolitan counties of the Great Plains region from 1950 to 1990. Findings indicate that county level population declined for every decade except the 1970 turnaround decade, and the greatest losses were in completely rural nonadjacent counties. The civilian labor force declined for all but the 1970 decade, when there was a substantial increase due to increased nonmetro manufacturing and the baby boom cohorts reaching labor force age. Retail/wholesale labor force increased in every decade except the 1980s. However, regression analysis found a positive and highly significant relationship between population change and retail/wholesale employment change. For this region, population decline is a major contributor to decline in the retail/wholesale employment sector at the county level. Preliminary data from the 1990-1996 period indicate a population and labor force rebound from the 1980s. However, as in the 1980s, gains are most likely concentrated in a small number of mainly urban nonadjacent counties.

Describes and identifies U.S. labor market areas (LMAs) and focuses on relationships between rural LMAs and local resources. Includes graph comparing labor-force educational levels of rural LMAs. Two U.S. maps identify rural LMA by industry, including resource (e.g. mining, agriculture), manufacturing, and public education/administration. (TES)

Capital investment forms a critical element of community economic exuberance because investment is a necessary condition for local job formation. Within a capitalist system, the state lacks a direct method of intervention in firm decisions over capital investment. Under these conditions state policy instruments must be aimed at enabling state and local governments to enhance their competitive advantage over other localities by reducing costs to capital investments within their jurisdictions. This article examines the effects of one such government relationship between policy instrument on rural labor markets in the U.S. Its primary focus is to evaluate the government enforced "open-shop" legislation, or the "right-to-work" (RTW) clause of the 1947 Taft-Hartley Labor Relations Act in the context to the rate of local employment growth. The study yielded that RTW legislation proved more important for change in concentrated sector employment, and stronger policy measures by the federal government could have a more systematic and acute impact on regional employment change.

This article is a selective overview of sociology and labor market structure. The labor market is conceived as a setting in which the supply and demand for labor intersect as manifested in transactions between the buyers and sellers of labor. They conceive of the employment relationship as an exchange relation that is governed by the relative scarcity of labor. In contrast, labor market sociology is more interested in specifying the nature of these "market imperfections" affecting labor market behavior. Most sociologists are concerned with how employment relationships in the labor market interface with other aspects of the social organization of society. Authors of the article have selected a few basic ideas that capture a significant part of the literature focusing specifically on market structure. Three basic perspectives that are emerging among labor market sociologists are: the social division of labor, organizational characteristics of the workplace, and ecology of labor markets.