Job Creation in Nonmetropolitan Communities - Issues for State Policy

This paper identifies state policy issues that are crucial to nonmetropolitan business development and job creation. What are the issues and choices facing state decision makers in developing the capacity of communities in rural regions to retain and generate employment? The paper will identify the five foundations upon which development is based and the primary issues of state policy in relation to each. Particular attention is paid to the human capital dimension, because many see it as critical to success, and states have considerable influence over it. Finally the focus is on nonmetropolitan communities, the multitude of cities and towns below 50,000 populations scattered throughout rural America, and on the way state policy can influence their development. Though thoroughly documented (for example, Henry Drabenstott and Gibson, 1986, 1987; Krider and Houston, 1986), the paper will first establish the basic dimensions of the serious rural employment problem and identify the global and technological forces that are buffeting rural economies. Second the paper will assert that scope for nonmetropolitan economic development does exist and will identify broad strategic issues facing states and communities in this regard. Third, it will be argued that five key foundations for economic growth must be present for development and job creation to occur at the community level, and finally that success will depend in part on how well states address significant issues in human resource development