Employment in Appalachia: Trends and Prospects

Excerpts from the report Summary: The economy of Appalachia in the 1950's experienced acute adjustments. Two structurally important basic industries--agriculture and mining--contracted much more rapidly in the region than in the Nation. Manufacturing, trade, services, and other activities expanded, but at less than national rates. The net effect was that growth in total employment and population in Appalachia lagged considerably behind the Nation. High residual proportions of the unemployed and the lower income in 1960 in the region than in the Nation were a byproduct of the lag in growth. Small-center rural areas typically had sizable losses in both total employment and population. In 1960, rates of unemployment and proportions of families with low incomes were much higher in small- than in large-center areas of the region. The relative and perhaps absolute needs of small-center areas for some type of economic adjustment were greater than those of the large center areas