Economic and Marketing Information
FOR INDIANA   FARMERS
Prepared by the Agricultural Staff of Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana
January  31,   1964
Janssen, Economic Research Service, USDA, and H. Neil Rude, Agricultural Economic.
Most of us have heard about the income and unemployment problems of low-income rural areas. Purdue University and the U. S. Department of Agriculture
are trying to learn what can be done to overcome these
problems.
Nature of a Low-Income Rural Area
A county which we will not identify, called Hill County, is used as a typical example of a low income rural
area.
Low-income rural areas usually have a steady loss of
population. Hill County has lost 37 percent of its population since 1900. When births and deaths are considered.
10,000 more people have moved out than have moved
into the county in the past 60 years. Nearly 90 percent
of the people of the county are natives of Indiana and
over 60 percent were born in the county—indicating
that few people moved to the area.
Like most rural areas, there are few job opportunities
to attract people from other parts of Indiana or other
states. Of the 36 Indiana counties in 1960 with over
80 percent native population, 20 are in southern Indiana
and 16 are in northern Indiana, but all are rural.
Population in Rural Areas
With high out-migration from low-income areas, the
population is quite different from that of urban areas.
Hill County has a large proportion of older people compared with Marion County, in which Indianapolis is
located (Figure 1). Younger people move from rural
areas to city areas, increasing the proportion of people
in the 20 to 40 age group in cities and reducing these
numbers in rural areas. However, the number of persons
in the 21 to 30 age group is relatively low in both rural
and urban areas.
Employment and Unemployment in Rural Areas
People leave an area that lacks good employment opportunities. In 1960, 2,600 residents of Hill County were
employed (Table 1), but only an average of 274 workers were listed with benefits of unemployment insurance
in covered employment (Table 2). The remainder were
self-employed, worked for firms employing less than
four persons,' were employed by a governmental unit,
or worked outside of the county. Many craftsmen and
operatives have jobs in a city 40 miles away or in nearby
towns. Several work in more distant cities.
Hill County, like all rural areas not near an urban
center with  ample job  opportunities,  faces high  unem
ployment and underemployment rates. The median income for the better agricultural counties is lower than
for areas such as Evansville, which experienced considerable unemployment in 1959 and I960 (Table 3).
High unemployment rates in Hill County result in poor
distribution   of   incomes   among   individuals.
More than one-third of the male labor force of Hill
County between the ages of 16 and 55 experienced some
unemployment during 1962 (Table 4). The unemployment rates are highest for young men under 24 and
lowest for middle aged men. Men from 25 to 34 seem
to experience more layoffs than those from 35 to 44.
but at the time of the survey, more of the older
men were out of work. Unemployment increases for
those over 45 years of age.
Male
D
80+
70-79
60-69
50-59
40-49
30-39
20-29
10-19
0-9
Female
RURAL
(Hill County )
25   20   15   10   5   0 0   5    10   15   20  25
Percent
Male
A
80+
70-79
60-69
50-59
40-49
30-39
20-29
10-19
0-9
Female
URBAN
(Marion County )
25   20   15   10   5   0
0   5    10   15   20  25
Percent
Figure 1. Population distribution, by age. of a rural and
an urban county in I960.