A new report highlights the barriers and opportunities for rural workers to stay and thrive in their hometowns. The Generating Rural Opportunities in the Workforce (GROW) report found that workers living in rural areas are more than twice as likely to feel limited in their employment opportunities. According to the report, 35% of rural workers feel limited compared to 14% of those in cities and suburbs.
Sixty percent of rural workers feel that pursuing a career is out of reach. Nearly 70% of rural workers would leave their community to pursue employment, compared to just over half of urban and suburban workers. Moreover, nearly two-thirds of rural Gen Z workers and over half of rural millennials feel held back in their careers due to their location, the report revealed.
Amanda Weinstein, the director of research at the Center on Rural Innovation, stated that people want access to economic opportunity where they live. The rise of the “knowledge economy” and the increase in technological jobs have had a disproportionately negative impact on rural populations, she explained. “For a large part because they just don’t have the technological infrastructure that larger cities have been able to build up,” Weinstein said.
While the rural tech gap is shrinking—73% of rural residents now have home broadband according to the Pew Research Center—it still lags behind the 77% of urban and 86% of suburban residents with such access. Weinstein noted that although the gap is closing, many rural communities haven’t had access to high-quality internet for as long as their urban counterparts, affecting their workforce development. With the expansion of remote work, Weinstein emphasized the need for rural workforce development to focus on national and global opportunities rather than just local labor demands.
Rural workforce faces tech challenges
Raghu Krishnaiah, the chief operating officer for the University of Phoenix, highlighted an impending employment cliff as the baby boomer generation reaches retirement age. He suggested that companies could benefit from investing in the rural workforce.
“Demand for being able to access that is actually increasing even among employers,” he said. Despite the challenges, rural workers remain just as optimistic about the future of their careers as their nonrural counterparts (68% vs. 71%).
However, they are not as optimistic about sustaining their careers in their hometowns. “If we can find solutions … and put them in place, they’re going to be able to actually meet those expectations much more easily,” Krishnaiah said.
Weinstein pointed out a high interest in entrepreneurship among rural residents but noted a “mismatch” with the tools and opportunities available to them. Businesses, schools, and the government need to collaborate to open pathways to economic opportunities for rural residents, she said. Continued investment in broadband infrastructure and building professional social capital are key parts of the solution.
About half of rural workers reported needing to develop skills to build a professional network, and about 40% lacked access to the right tools and resources to achieve their career goals. Building formal and informal mentorship programs, hosting local networking events, and fostering entrepreneurship in rural areas can further bridge these gaps, according to the GROW report.
