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The report presents data on demographic, social and economic characteristics of 2.8 million persons 14 years of age and over who did farmwork for cash wages or salary in 1976, and summarizes some of the more pertinent changes in the size, composition, and employment patterns of hired farmworkers. Data, taken from a survey conducted by the Bureau of the Census as a supplementary part of the December 1976 Current Population Survey, include each State and the District of Columbia but not Puerto Rico or other U.S. territories. Tabular data are organized into three areas: characteristics of the 1976 hired farm working force; selected subgroups of hired farmworkers; and changing characteristics of the hired farm working force. Data indicate that: generally, hired farm workers were young (median age 23), white (74%), male (74%), and lived off the farm; approximately 11% were Hispanic, 14% were Black & Others, and 25% were women; during 1976, 24% of the Farm Working Force did only farm labor, 17% did non-farm work for most of the year, and 8% were migrants; the average annual wage for farm workers was $1,625. (EJ)

Between 1960 and 1970 economic opportunity and progress for women in American non-metropolitan areas was mixed. While women in metropolitan areas were more likely to be labor force members than were non-metropolitan women, the difference in metropolitan and non-metropolitan labor force participation rates narrowed during the period. For women between the ages of 35 and 44 there was almost no residential difference by 1970. Existing differences in labor force activity were not associated with commuting. In non-metropolitan counties women became an important labor resource, accounting for 89% of the job growth between 1960 and 1970, as compared to just 58% of the metropolitan job growth. Although non-metropolitan women were not forced into traditional rural pursuits, they were more likely to hold low-wage clerical, operative, and service jobs. These lower status jobs accounted for most of the employment gains for non-metropolitan women in the 1970's. The decentralization of employment to non-metropolitan areas has created jobs for both black and white women where few existed before, yet the lower status of most non-metropolitan employment implies lesser social, economic, and personal rewards for non-metropolitan women workers. (SB)

Because some rural women underutilize their increased schooling while others are disadvantaged by low educational attainment and underdeveloped skills, and in order to help determine policy alternatives to meet rural women's educational needs, the educational attainments and labor force participation of rural white and minority women were studied. In 1975, white nonmetropolitan women completed an average of 12.2 years of school as compared to 8.9 years for black and 7.7 years for hispanic nonmetropolitan women. Very few white women but 19% of the black women and 31.1% of the hispanic women were functionally illiterate. As did their labor force sisters, non-labor force white women averaged a high school education and were consistently better educated than non-labor force white men. White women in the labor force apparently underutilized their education, entering the lower paying, lower skilled positions. In contrast, greater educational attainment appeared to pay off in greater labor force participation for black women, who were nonetheless low on the scale of economic payoffs (perhaps reflecting the triple disadvantage facing rural minority women). Career and vocational education, guidance counseling, education of the disadvantaged, education of farm women, and improved socio-economic conditions can help ensure full usage of rural women's educational attainments. (SB)

Nonmetropolitan and totally rural areas have greater unmet health needs and fewer health resources than urban areas. Blacks, American Indians, migrants, and Appalachians have specialized rural health care needs as a result of cultural isolation, poverty, and discrimination. The reversal of the rural to urban population migration has increased the strain on the health care system in all nonmetropolitan areas where the per capita distribution of physicians, medical specialists, services, and quality of facilities is significantly lower than in metropolitan areas. Communities need to develop specialized emergency medical transportation and communication, establish satellite clinics, and increase part-time physicians and midlevel health practitioners. A positive development has been the federal government's recognition of rural needs and design of eight programs to ameliorate rural health care problems: Community Health Centers, Migrant Health Centers, National Health Service Corps, Health Underserved Rural Areas, Rural Health Initiative, Rural Health Clinic Services Act, Loan Repayment, and Community Facilities Loan Programs. Under any national health insurance it will be important to recognize rural residents' health needs. The report compares four factors indicative of the condition of the health care system in both areas and shows that rural areas' lower incomes, larger aged populations, hazardous occupations, and lower educational levels contribute to poorer health care conditions. (NEC)

Members of the farm related population generally lag behind their nonfarm related counterparts in the number of school years completed, number of persons completing high school and college, functional literacy rates, participants in adult education, and labor force status. In 1975 White farm males trailed metro and nonmetro nonfarm males by 1.2 and 0.8 years respectively in median school years completed. Black farm males and females trailed their metro counterparts by 5.7 years for men and 4.0 years for women. Functional illiteracy for Black farm males remained about the same (40 percent) while illiteracy among Black farm females rose from 23.1 to 31.9 percent. Farm-related youth are not seeking post-secondary schooling at a level approaching that for metro youth, and older farm-related people are less inclined to pursue adult education opportunities. Thus, many members of the farm related population lack the formal education needed to improve chances for success in complex modern farming as well as in professional career fields elsewhere. Census data from between 1968-1975 are used in this study on the educational characteristics of two farm related population components: nonmetro farm residents and farmers and farm laborers. The educational status of subpopulations (Blacks-Whites, males-females, younger-older persons) is particularly emphasized. (Author/DS)

Emphasizing developmental problems caused by the rapid population and employment growth in rural America during the 1970's, this document describes social, economic, and governmental trends in rural America and suggests some federal policy choices that might be made in support of rural development. Problem areas and policy suggestions are presented as follows: (1) diversity and isolation cause rural poverty to differ from urban poverty, and policy development must acknowledge this difference; (2) changing patterns in rural growth and settlement necessitate the application of new forms of organization and technology for more effective planning and services in rapidly growing isolated areas; (3) the increasingly nonagricultural character of rural areas effects rural economy (therefore, economic development policy should address the needs of the entire rural population); (4) economic and political natures of local governments must be understood in order to correlate their actions and effectiveness in the framework of federal capacity building; and (5) 1976 analysis of federal spending in rural America illustrates difficulties in assessing the equity of federal spending for rural health, education, and manpower programs. More study is needed regarding urban bias and federal policy for adequate rural programs. (JD)

Information about small farms is valuable at federal, state, and local levels to program managers and community developers, researchers and educators, policy makers and farm families themselves. Adequate information can help in the assessment of small farm program needs, development of appropriate policies, and management of effective programs, thereby aiding the well-being of the small farm family and its role in agriculture as a whole. Research activity regarding small farms has increased in the 1970's and has included more reports, extension education directed to small farm families, legislation, small farm research agenda studies and workshops, activities of small farm advocates, and other initiatives of the United States Department of Agriculture. Future policy formation and program management requires information in seven main categories: small farm definition and criteria; the goals and goal achievement of small farmers; their problems and disadvantaged circumstances; available human resources; available farm resources; community institutions; and the family's current use of available resources to achieve its goals and solve its problems. No national or state-wide secondary data source adequately includes all this information. (Author/SB)

Nonmetro (rural) blacks continue to lag behind metro (urban and suburban) blacks and whites of all residence categories on rates of graduation from high school and college, functional literacy, preprimary and college enrollment, and adult education. Nonmetro blacks are also less likely to be in the labor force, hold white collar jobs, or have incomes above the poverty level, probably as a result of obtaining less education. Economic development of nonmetro areas, improvement of educational services, career/vocational training programs, and employment training programs are policy directions to be examined to improve the educational status of nonmetro groups. (Author/MK)

This report assesses the impact of Federal food assistance programs on hunger in America between the years 1967 and 1976. Data indicate that assistance to persons residing in counties with the highest infant mortality rate and counties with the lowest per capita income rose since 1967. Assistance to counties with lower infant mortality rates and higher income levels also rose, but at a slower rate. Bonus food stamps programs had a significant effect on retail food sales per person, most obviously in counties with high infant mortality rates. Food assistance distributed through the National School Lunch Program and the Commodity Distribution Program did not result in observable increases in food retail sales, with the exception of having a slight effect in poorest rural counties. In general, data show that progress has been made in providing food to poor people. Tables of data are appended to the report. (Author/MK)

Substate regional organizations (defined as those public bodies that provide planning, economic development, and service coordination for local governments) are discussed, and the major issues pertaining to substate regionalism are explored in this overview. The background and setting of the substate regional movement is traced, from its inception in 1954 when federal aid for regional planning began, through present federal programs in the fields of economic development, employment, health, law enforcement, and transportation. The role of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, one of the federal agencies supporting multicounty substate regional activities, is described, and its leadership in promoting regional solutions to problems of rural development and natural resources conservation is acknowledged. Differences in problems and functional focuses of regional councils in nonmetropolitan areas (from those in urban regions) are discussed. Thirty-nine federal programs which supported substate regional activities during 1977-1979 are described, including both the "generalist", multipurpose areawide units and the multicounty single-purpose areawide units. Selection criteria, program identification, and program characteristics are reviewed. (JD)

This report reviews more than 30 studies that have attempted to measure the importance of size economies in the provision of education, with emphasis on the theoretical, methodological, and empirical basis of each. Size economies refer to a system of obtaining optimum use from funds available. The purposes of the report are (1) to determine the degree to which size economies in education exist; (2) to consider the potential applications of size-economies research; (3) to evaluate the theoretical basis of size-economies literature; (4) to examine the appropriateness of the data sets that have been used; and (5) to analyze the methodology applied in size-economies research. According to the paper, the consistency of the reported results suggests that increased size of elementary and secondary schools will permit some limited economies. Economies will also result when more students are administered by the same school district. The paper concludes that care should be taken in applying the results because the degree of savings also depends on other factors, such as the quality of education provided and transportation costs. (Author/LD)

Labor force participation of nonmetropolitan women rose in the 1970's but not in a consistent pattern. Their labor force participation rose 4.5% between 1973 and 1978, when they comprised 41% of the total nonmetropolitan labor force. Although women accounted for 89% of nonmetropolitan employment growth in the 1960's and 58% in the 1970's, their mean earnings declined. A greater percentage than before of nonmetropolitan women entered professional, technical, managerial, clerical, craft, and service sector occupations while fewer entered operative occupations, a former source of great employment gain for the nonmetropolitan female population. Educational level correlated positively with occupational choice and both factors together had implications for job stability. The three main factors which influenced the decisions of rural women to enter the work force are: economic considerations (resulting from inflation); changing family structure and social attitudes (the largest net increase in nonmetropolitan female labor force participation rates occurred for ages 25-34, prime childbearing years); and more job opportunities (resulting from the decentralization of manufacturing to rural areas). (SB)

The two papers in this document were prepared in response to requests by the Department of Agriculture and the White House staff for briefs on welfare and poverty issues. The first paper, "The Administration's Welfare Reform Proposal: Impact on Rural Areas" by Robert Hoppe, discusses major provisions of (1) the proposed Welfare Reform Amendment (H.R. 4904) which would attempt to standardize Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) Program and make it more consistent from state to state and (2) the Work and Training Opportunities Act (H.R. 4425) which would increase employment opportunities for people eligible for AFDC. The brief concludes that most of the proposal's provisions appear beneficial to rural people. The second paper, "The Farm Differentiation in the Poverty Threshold: Should It Be Changed?" is by Thomas A. Carline, Linda M. Ghelfi, and Janet W. Coffin. It presents a short history of changes in the farm differential since 1964 along with three arguments for its complete elimination from the official poverty definition. Among the implications discussed are the impact elimination of the farm differential would have on programs and statistics, the broad-based support for eliminating the differential, and the impact of in-kind income (food stamps, housing, Medicare and Medicaid) on urban and rural poverty. (DS)

Development of Northern Great Plains coal resources will create new demands for state and local government services. Development will also produce increased government revenues. Special taxes on coal production have been enacted in Montana, North Dakota, and Wyoming in order to ensure that state and local governments receive sufficient revenues to finance the new services required. This study reports detailed estimates of the state and local taxes that would be paid by three different-sized coal mines and their employees in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. The estimates were obtained by using the ENERGYTAX simulation model. While in all states the total revenue available appears sufficient to meet the increased demands for services attributable to the mines, there are other considerations. When the analysis is done by type of government, state governments and, to a lesser extent, county governments appear to receive enough new revenues to meet their needs. The cities and, in some states, the school districts appear less well-off. State and local governments may also face a cash flow problem when mineral development occurs. (Author/IRT)

Planners in multicounty rural areas can use the Rural Development, Activity Analysis Planning (RDAAP) model to try to influence the optimal growth of their areas among different general economic goals. The model implies that best industries for rural areas have: high proportion of imported inputs; low transportation costs; high value added/output ratio and value added/labor ratio; low percentage of labor skill that is most scarce; and low capital/output ratio. The model likewise suggests that conversion of agricultural land from the land use pattern of lower income farms to that of higher income farms is always desirable in a region. The linear programming model was specifically applied, in this report, to a region of northwest Arkansas comprising Benton, Madison, and Washington Counties (BMW region). Alternative objectives included the following: regional balance-of-trade surplus, regional balance-of-payments surplus, gross regional product, local value added, and a regional rate-of-return index. Data were obtained for 1960-70 to compare growth of employment by industry in the model with the actual growth in the area. Because a portion of the BMW region has recently been designated a Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA), this study can provide a vehicle for examining how an area might be developed optimally from a rural to a more urban status. (AH)

In the period from 1950 to 1970, there were 298 persistent low-income (PLI) counties in the United States, but between 1970 and 1975, 43 counties left the persistent low-income status (LPLI) due to private sector influence and earnings from mining and agriculture. LPLI counties were largely located in Georgia, Arkansas, and Kentucky. Most PLI counties were located in the South, and had small populations, a large percentage of which was Black. Compared to nonmetropolitan averages, PLI counties in 1969 had a lower per capita income, lower average earnings and were more dependent on transfer payments and proprietors' income, especially from farms. A smaller percentage of the PLI population were wage and salary employees. PLI counties evidenced low family and health status, yet despite more severe conditions residents were less alienated. Although PLI and LPLI counties depended on the same three industries (manufacturing, agriculture, government), the LPLI counties' greatest dependence was on agriculture while that of PLI counties was on government. Counties depending on mining may make future income gains, but those depending on agriculture have a less certain future. PLI counties for 1969-1975 are listed by state. (SB)