From the end of World War II well into the 1980s, leaders in my area of the rural South emphasized better roads, cheap labor and a non-union work environment in an attempt to draw businesses from the Northeast and the Upper Midwest. You know the rest of the story.
There was some success in attracting jobs. But the jobs that were brought in from the Northeast and the Upper Midwest later left for other countries. In town after town, there are empty industrial facilities that once housed textile mills, shirt factories, shoe factories and the like.
If you’re a leader in your community, these are the questions you should be asking yourself:
Has your community properly shifted its economic and community development focus to reflect the reality of the knowledge-based economy?
Rather than just seeking more jobs, are you working smartly to attract higher-wage jobs?
Will your community have the quality of workforce needed to truly compete in the global economy of the 21st century?
One thing we know for a fact is that the workforce training programs of the past are no longer adequate to meet the needs of a 21st century economy. We cannot continue training our young people for jobs that likely won’t be there once their training is complete.
Since 1970, the number of service-related jobs in our country has increased almost 300 percent while the number of manufacturing jobs has declined. Our population is aging. That means there will be job shortages in key areas of the 21st century economy. But we’re not training people to fill those jobs.
Yes, rural Americans are a resilient lot. They’ve overcome countless obstacles through the decades. But the small communities of this country will never achieve their full potential if they aren’t training people properly.
Having a quality workforce, of course, is about more than just education and training.
We must also address the poor health of our people and the other social obstacles they’re forced to overcome on a daily basis.
Far too many people in rural America have missed out on past economic expansions. The U.S. economic expansion of the 1990s, for instance, was the largest expansion in world history, but hundreds of thousands of rural Americans didn’t reap the benefits.
These communities must find systematic ways to improve their public schools while at the same time improving health care.
Without doing those two things, they will never turn the tide and be able to take advantage of the next economic expansion.
It won’t be easy. It won’t happen quickly. It can, however, take place over time with the right leaders in the right places, coupled with a sincere willingness to change. We all know that those in positions of power in rural America are sometimes slow to embrace change.
We also must vow that everyone in the community — not just a few — should have the opportunity to become self-sufficient. Once people achieve self-sufficiency, they begin to invest in their families and pass on wealth to their children.
- As a result, those children are smarter and healthier than they otherwise would have been.
- More people own their homes.
- Opportunities for advancement increase.
And your community finds itself in a positive rather than a negative economic cycle.
— Rex Nelson
Posted by Rex Nelson 
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