Rural Pennsylvania Underemployment And Its Determinants

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of age distribution and educational attainment on the level of underemployment in Appalachian regions of the United States. Furthermore, this study shows the similarities and differences at the state and county levels for Pennsylvania. Following the methodology of Price and Wail (2005) linear regression models are used to estimate the marginal impacts of general economic conditions measured by the unemployment rate, as well as age and educational attainment, on the level of underemployment in the state. In rural Appalachia, younger workers and those with some post-baccalaureate education are more likely to find themselves underemployed. Keywords: rural economics, Appalachian studies, unemployment, underemployment, measurement issues.