Masters Theses

Date of Award

12-1967

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Agricultural Economics

Major Professor

Dr. Merton B. Badenhop

Committee Members

Dr. Frank O. Leuthold & Dr. Luther H. Keller

Abstract

Most Tennessee counties have experienced a net outmigration of persons in recent decades. For example, net outmigration for Tennessee was over one-fourth of a million persons from 1950 to 1960 or half of the level of natural population increase during this period. During the 1950-60 decade, 86 of the 95 counties had a net outmigration of persons. In 59 counties outmigration was sufficient to result in an aggregate population decline. Counties experiencing greatest population declines are largely rural containing few urban centers.

The questions of who leaves and who stays in low income rural areas and the effects of leaving or staying have often been the subject of debate. Resolution of these questions is of great importance for those directing policy in various sectors of our society. Nevertheless, relevant data pertaining to such questions are few. While net migration figures can be estimated from the Census and Vital Statistics, these sources provide few precise data for estimating the parameters of the migrating and nonmigrating sectors. To provide more precise information on migration relationships, an exploratory study was conducted in Jackson County, Tennessee.

Jackson County, located in the Cumberland Plateau Area, is a low-income rural county and has experienced high outmigration for the past several decades. In the 1950-60 decade, net outmigration was 35 percent of the 1950 population and the third highest of any Tennessee county. The population of Jackson County declined from 12,348 in 1950 to 9,233 in 1960, a 25 percent decrease and the highest rate of decline of any Tennessee county in the 1950-60 decade. In 1960, 63 percent of the population was classified as rural farm while 44 percent of the civilian labor force was employed in agriculture. Only 10 percent of the civilian labor force in Tennessee and 6 percent of the United States labor were employed in agriculture. Seventeen percent of the Jackson County labor force was employed in manufacturing compared to 26 percent for Tennessee and 27 percent for the United States. Median family income in 1960 was the third lowest of any Tennessee county, and only 30 percent of the United States and 43 percent of the Tennessee averages.

Jackson County was selected for study because it represented a low-income and high-outmigration area with limited local employment opportunity. Much of the land in Jackson County is not adapted to mechanized farming, therefore, agriculture, the major employer of the labor force, has not been particularly profitable. The roughness of most of the uplands restricts their use for crop production. Overall, less than one-fourth of the agricultural area is suitable for regular cultivation. Burley tobacco represents the principal cash crop on many farms although agriculture is based more on livestock than on crop production.

A basic problem in the Upper Cumberland Plateau Area of Tennessee is the overabundance of human resources relative to local employment opportunities. Low-production farming areas such as represented by Jackson County often lack the necessary natural resources and adequately trained manpower to compete successfully in attracting nonfarm employment opportunities. Thus, large numbers of people have left such areas to seek better opportunities elsewhere.

Evidence also indicates that many low-income rural communities receive a low return on their investment in educating children due to high outmigration. Each migrant represents a large public expenditure of local funds. Where there is a sizeable net loss of young adults, resources devoted to education and training of the young people are in the immediate sense lost to the community. Urban areas receiving these young people, oh the other hand, benefit from this nonreciprocal migration of new members of the labor force.

Heaviest migration occurs among individuals in the younger age groups. This selective migration changes the composition of the community from which they migrated. There is a depletion of productive manpower and an increasing proportion of people in the dependent age groups. Rural communities experiencing high outmigration are less able to support their businesses, schools, churches, and other social organizations. The consequences of a population decline on rural communities are both positive and negative. Population losses may reduce the pressure on the available resources. On the other hand, it may also weaken the business community.

The phenomenon of migration has been variously regarded as a means for achieving a more productive and balanced national economy and as a way of raising the level of living. It also has been regarded as a drain on the talent and economic resources of agricultural areas, and as producing a weakened national character.

With these problems in mind, the primary in mind, the primary objective of the present study are: (1) to determine the extent and pattern of migration of young adults reared in Jackson County, and (2) to relate these migration patterns to educate, occupation, residence, special job training, and level of living.

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