Rural Economic Diversification - A Community and Regional Approach - ARCHIVED

Rural community economic diversification, or the spreading of the workforce across a variety of industrial sectors, is one solution to the problems facing rural regions and small towns. This makes communities less vulnerable to economic variability, particularly those communities that are heavily dependent on the primary industries sector. From 1986 to 1996, slightly less than one-half of rural communities were diversifying their economies and increasing their workforce. However, there are great differences found among the provinces and within regions. Communities within a region may be geographically close, but may not share the same economic characteristics. This suggests that a community's regional context does not necessarily predict and does not constrain a community's economic possibilities.