Spatial Redistribution of Poverty through Migration of Poor People to Depressed Rural Communities1

Bibliographic Data

ID2281180
AuthorsJanet M Fitchen (Ithaca College, corresponding author)
Year1995
Volume60
Issue2
Pages181-201
Publication date1995-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueRural Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0036-0112 • E-ISSN: 1549-0831
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1549-0831.1995.tb00568.x
OpenAlexW1988163320
LanguageEN
Citations received40
References cited13

Recent demographic studies document movement of poor people from both urban and rural places to depressed rural communities. Such migration redistributes poverty to rural areas and further concentrates it within them. This article presents a case study of one depressed community in New York that became a migration destination for urban poor people, causing dramatic increases in poverty rate, welfare rolls, and service needs. On-site research showed that the community's attraction was inexpensive rental housing that had become available after loss of manufacturing jobs prompted a middle-class exodus. The lack of jobs was not a deterrent for low-income inmigrants, though, because many of them had limited job skills and other employment barriers and would have had difficulty getting or holding a job anyway. Similar processes of economic decline, population loss, and poverty inmigration appear to be occurring elsewhere also. The article identifies community-level impacts and policy implications; it concludes with suggestions for further research needs

Central city · Community service · Demographic economics · Development economics · Economic geography · Economic growth · Economics · Labour economics · Political science · Politics · Population · Poverty · Redistribution (election · Renting · Rural area · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Welfare · Demography · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Rural development and sustainability · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies

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