The world that revived rural America no longer exists |
Small towns are in for a sobering stretch of economic challenges as elected officials reverse pandemic-era policies that had been reviving them.
COVID-19 was a huge, unexpected opportunity for rural America. The pandemic brought jobs and people to places that had been in decline.
One reason is that the pandemic brought a sharp shift in household consumption toward goods and away from services. Rural America, the manufacturing heartland, benefited from job growth in 2022 and 2023. That growth slowed by 2024, but legislation like Sen. Todd Young's CHIPS and Science Act offered at least a hint that we might be entering a period of more stable factory employment.
Unlike most of the world, the U.S. economy boomed after COVID-19. The effects were particularly obvious in labor markets, pushing us down to the longest stretch of sub-4% unemployment since the 1960s. This attracted immigrants – legal and illegal – many of whom came to rural America for economic opportunity.
This was a rare advantage for rural places with low quality of life. Economic migrants are........