Mark W Olson: The resurgence of opportunity in rural America

From a lecture given by the governor of the US Federal Reserve Board to the Rotary Club of Fergus Falls, Minnesota

I am sure that many people throughout rural America have experienced the conflicting realities of rural economic life. On the one hand, the appeal is enormous. People born and raised in small towns often want to raise their families in such an environment. Less common, but not rare, are people who spent formative years in larger cities and want to experience the more hassle-free style of small-town life.

For many people who feel so inclined, the barrier to staying, returning or moving to rural America is finding a job. For most of the last century, rural America experienced a continual outmigration of its young people, who moved to population centres where job opportunities were more plentiful.

That pattern was certainly true of my generation. But I was both surprised and pleased upon moving back to Fergus Falls at age 33 to discover that a significant number of the people moving back here were professional people who could have found similar employment virtually anywhere in the country. Numerous doctors, lawyers, dentists, educators and other professionals of my generation actively sought a combination of lifestyle and professional opportunity in communities such as Fergus Falls.

It struck me that, if professional people saw the opportunity to live in rural areas as a first choice rather than as a default option and if job opportunities permitted, rural America could experience renewed growth. Further, I thought that if this situation was true for Fergus Falls, it was also true elsewhere in rural America.

Therefore, I was not entirely surprised to learn that, since the 1990s, rural America has been experiencing a resurgence of economic opportunity.

The most notable change in our rural economy is the decline of agriculture as a dominating industry. This statement is not news to Otter Tail County residents, for the county has experienced a continual decline in the number of full-time farms. From 1992 to 1997, Otter Tail County experienced an 11 per cent decline in the number of full-time farms. However, over that same five-year period, the market value of farm products sold from Otter Tail County farms increased 18 per cent, to more than $200m. This pattern is typical of rural areas throughout the United States.

The substantial growth in jobs in rural America has occurred in the services sector. This sector includes such producer services as financial, legal and business support services. It also includes important social services such as health and education. And finally, it includes recreational and personal services.

As economic growth in rural America becomes no longer tied primarily to the natural resources of the immediate area, individual communities will have more opportunity than ever to affect their own growth and their own economic prosperity.