Nonmetropolitan minority families in the United States: trends in racial and ethnic economic stratification, 1959-1986
Jensen, L.; Tienda, M.
Rural Sociology 54(4): 509-532
1989
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-0112 Document Number: 365295
This paper traces the economic status of nonmetropolitan (nonmetro) black, Mexican and American Indian families during the period 1959 to 1986. Analysis of 1960, 1970, 1980, and 1987 U.S. Census Bureau data revealed substantial improvement in the economic status of rural minority families between 1959 and 1979--in relative terms, considerably more than that enjoyed by their urban counterparts or rural whites. However, nonmetro black and Mexican family incomes deteriorated substantially in the ensuing seven years. The shift in residence toward urban areas contributed to the 1959-1979 decline in minority poverty, although American Indians benefited considerably more than blacks or Mexicans from this mechanism. Furthermore, labor market commitment has a greater ameliorative effect on family poverty for all groups than does public assistance. That poverty among nonmetro minorities improved in response to increasing labor supply is a policy-relevant finding discussed in the conclusions.