Growth Falters in Most Rural Counties: Manufacturing Both Hero and Goat

Nonmetro areas outpaced metro counties in employment growth in the 1970's but fell far behind in the early 1980’s as the nation's economic activity slackened. Nonmetro wage and salary employment increased only about 1 percent between 1979 and 1984, compared with a gain of almost 6 percent in metro areas. Only a third of nonmetro counties had at least moderate growth throughout 1969-84, compared with almost 60 percent of metro counties. Manufacturing was a leading source of growth in many nonmetro counties and a leading source of decline in others. Reasons may be different kinds of manufacturing and differences in the age of manufacturing facilities.