Rural vs. Urban job growth in SD

May 11th, 2009 by

A new report highlights a positive trend in Miner County, SD. Between 2002 and 2008, Miner County experienced a growth of 17.61% in the number of private sector jobs created in the county. That is especially good news when one considers that overall, South Dakota’s rural communities experienced a decline of .27% in private sector jobs.

The study, titled “Private Industry Change in South Dakota,” was completed by the Rural Life Census Data Center at South Dakota State University and released in their April 2009 newsletter. Read the full report here.

Overall, the study shows that South Dakota performed pretty well in the job creation arena during this period (2002-2008) with an overall growth rate of 8.6%. But most of that growth occurred in urban areas or counties bordering South Dakota’s largest communities (those with cities of over 10,000 people). (See report for comparison to surrounding states.)

In addition to its analysis, the report offers a couple brief policy implications:

1) First, the report recommends supporting the development of smaller, locally owned businesses. A community with a diversity of small, locally owned businesses allows residents to take greater ownership of the community. These communities also tend to have less inequality. To me, this sounds like a great case for investing in economic gardening practices, where local businesses are the beneficiaries.

2) Second, policy makers need to understand the relationship between poverty and private industry and take action by investing in education, vocational training, and work experience. It is interesting to note that the study emphasizes accomplishing this through grassroots civic organizations where people have an opportunity to develop greater “personal ownership and community pride.” Sounds like they are buying into the Knight Foundation’s Soul of the Community study.

Some final thoughts

Overall, I appreciate the emphasis the report places on the current economic plight of rural communities. I hope that policy makers take note that across the board, current job creation strategies in rural communities are not working well. This does not mean, however, that places experiencing decline are without hope.

There are places beyond Miner County and those next to South Dakota’s largest communities who are experiencing positive job growth. And we need to start asking why? Perhaps that’s coming in a future report by the Rural Life Census Data Center. Or perhaps you know the answer.

Note: I took note of the job growth in Miner County because it is the home to this blog. The work of the Rural Learning Center attempts to build on the economic model being used in Miner County, so highlighting a few elements of its economy provides context to the writing here.

Image Credit: The map is presented as a part of the “Private Industry Change in South Dakota” report, prepared by the Rural Life Census Data Center.

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