Effects of Local Labor Market Conditions On Husband-Wife Wage Labor Participation and Labor Demand: U.S. Farm and Rural Nonfarm households

Nonmetropolitan America contains almost 25 percent of the nation's population and 33 percent of its labor force. Rural residents are more likely to experience subemployment or poverty than their urban counterparts', and nonmetropolitan areas have lower wage rates and family income than urban areas. During the 1970s, rural areas benefited from a shift of manufacturing jobs from the metropolitan to nonmetro areas. However, during the 1980s employment prospects for nonmetro areas have deteriorated (USDA 1987). Part of this change in prospects is a result of increased international competition for U.S. manufactured goods and agricultural products. In addition, a major business-cycle contraction started in 1981. The relatively rapid growth of service sector employment during the 1980s has largely by-passed rural labor markets. Disciplines Agribusiness | Business Administration, Management, and Operations | Collective Bargaining | Labor and Employment Law This report is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/econ_las_staffpapers/207 EFFECTS OF LOCAL LABOR MARKET CONDITIONS ON HUSBAND-WIFE WAGE LABOR PARTICIPATION AND LABOR DEMAND: U.S. FARM AND RURAL NONFARM HOUSEHOLDS , Wallace E. Huffman Professor of Economics and Agricultural Economics Staff Paper No. 198 Oct. 1988 Effects of Local Labor Market Conditions on Husband-Wife Wage Labor Participation and Labor Demand: U.S. Farm and Rural Nonfarzn Households, 1978-82 By Joanne Geigel Tokle^ and Wallace E. Huffman 12-16-88 Nonmetropolitan America contains almost 25 percent of the nation's population and 33 percent of its labor force. Rural residents are more likely to experience subemployment or poverty than their urban counterparts', and nonmetropolitan areas have lower wage rates and family income than urban areas. During the 1970s, rural areas benefitted from a shift of manufacturing jobs from the metropolitan to nonmetrp areas. However, during the 1980s employment prospects for nonmetro areas have deteriorated (USDA 1987). Part of this change in prospects is a result of increased international competition for U.S. manufactured goods and agricultural products. In addition, a major business-cycle contraction started in 1981. The relatively rapid growth of service sector emplo3mient during the 1980s has largely by-passed rural labor