A new report highlights the barriers and opportunities for rural workers to thrive in their hometowns.
The Generating Rural Opportunities in the Workforce report, conducted by the University of Phoenix Career Institute and the Center on Rural Innovation, found rural workers are more than twice as likely to feel limited in their employment options — 35% compared to 14% for urban and suburban workers.
Sixty percent of rural workers feel pursuing a career is out of reach. Nearly 70% would leave their community for work, compared to just over half of urban and suburban workers. Rural Gen Z and millennials particularly feel held back by where they live, according to the report.
Amanda Weinstein, research director at the Center on Rural Innovation, said people want access to economic opportunity where they live. She noted the rise of the “knowledge economy” and technological jobs has disproportionately affected rural areas due to lacking infrastructure.
“For a large part because they just don’t have the technological infrastructure that larger cities have been able to build up,” Weinstein said.
The rural tech gap is shrinking, with 73% of rural residents now having high-speed internet, but that still lags behind urban (77%) and suburban (86%) areas, according to Pew Research Center.
Weinstein said rural workforce development has also lagged. With remote work expanding, rural areas need to focus on national and global opportunities, not just local labor needs.
Raghu Krishnaiah, chief operating officer for University of Phoenix, said companies are facing an employment cliff as baby boomers retire and could benefit from investing in the rural workforce.
“I think demand for being able to access that is actually increasing even among employers,” he said.
Weinstein added that while there is strong interest in entrepreneurship among rural residents, there is “a bit of a mismatch” between their ambitions and the available tools.
Continued investment in broadband infrastructure and building professional social capital are key parts of the solution, the report said. About half of rural workers say they need to develop skills to build a professional network, and about 40% cite a lack of access to the tools and resources needed to achieve career goals.
Building mentorship programs, hosting local networking events and helping rural workers connect with skills development pathways are essential, according to the GROW report.
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