Middle-skill Jobs Remain More Common Among Rural Workers

“This issue brief used data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) collected from 2003 to 2012 to assess trends in employment in middle-skill jobs and the Great Recession’s impact on middle-skill workers, with particular attention paid to differences between those in rural and urban places.... Middle skill encompasses jobs that require at least one of the following: (1) at least moderate on-the-job training (one month to one year) or an apprenticeship, (2) one to five years of experience in a similar job, or (3) a post-secondary vocational award, some college, or an associate degree…. High-skill jobs require at least a four-year college degree regardless of an individual’s level of related experience or training, whereas low-skill jobs require no more than a high-school diploma, less than one year of related experience, and less than one month of on-the-job training” (p.1-2). (Abstractor: Author)

"Although the middle-skill sector continues to represent an avenue into well-paying occupations that do not require formal education beyond a high school level, an increasing number of these jobs (such as those in the health care field) requires workers to obtain a two-year degree or some other credential, particularly as baby boomers reach retirement age and occupations in health care expand. Job-training programs should consider the growing role that these jobs will play in the future of the U.S. economy.

• Roughly half (51 percent) of American workers living in rural areas held middle-skill jobs in 2012-- positions requiring at least some on-the job training, an apprenticeship-type experience, or post-secondary education but no more than a two-year degree. This figure is well above the national average of 43 percent and the urban average of 42 percent (p.1).
• Since 2003, the percentage of workers holding middle-skill jobs has not changed in rural places but has declined slightly in urban places. Other data suggest that there has been a downward trajectory in these types of occupations since the 1970s; analyses conducted for this brief indicate that, at least in recent years, national declines in the prevalence of middle-skill workers appear to reflect an urban rather than rural trend (p.1).
• Despite this trend, some middle-skill occupations are growing in both urban and rural areas. Much of this growth is driven by the increasingly important role that the service sector (in particular, the health care field) plays in the U.S. economy (p.1).
• Half of all working men, but only 35 percent of working women, hold middle-skill jobs. In urban places, white, Hispanic and black workers were equally likely to hold middle skill jobs but in rural areas Hispanics were substantially more likely to hold middle-skill jobs than white or black workers. And older workers are more likely than younger workers to hold middle-skill jobs" (p.1). (Abstractor: Author)

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2013
• Author(s): Young, Justin R.
• Organizational Author(s): Carsey Institute, University of New Hampshire
• Funding Source: Annie E. Casey Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Damon Jones
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies