SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Rural America is facing an existential crisis. As cities continue to grow and prosper, small towns are shrinking. That fundamental divide played itself out in the recent presidential election.
[...] The trend is clear: Rural America is literally fading away. It shouldn't come as a surprise, therefore, that the opioid overdose epidemic has hit rural states, like Kentucky and West Virginia, especially hard. And the latest research from the CDC also shouldn't come as a surprise: Suicides in rural America (labeled as non-core) have increased over 40% in 16 years.
From 1999 to 2015, suicide rates increased everywhere in America. On average, across the U.S., suicides increased from 12.2 per 100,000 to 15.7 per 100,0001, an increase of just under 30%. However, in rural America, the suicide rate surged over 40%2, from just over 15 per 100,000 to roughly 22 per 100,000. Similarly, the suicide rate in micropolitan areas (defined as having a population between 10,000-49,999) went from 14 per 100,000 to 19 per 100,000, an increase of around 35%.
On the flip side, major cities saw much smaller increases in suicide rates, on the order of 10%. The graph depicts a clear pattern: Suicide rates are highest in the most rural parts of the country, and they slowly decrease as urbanization increases. As of 2015, the suicide rate in rural areas (22 per 100,000) is about 40% higher than in the nation as a whole (15.7 per 100,000) and 83% higher than in large cities (12 per 100,000).
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday March 30 2017, @04:21PM (6 children)
While kids might be able to support themselves with only a sixth grade education and some vocational training for a skill, but they will never have the best paying jobs. But the world needs all kinds of jobs.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday March 30 2017, @05:56PM (5 children)
True, we're just telling kids nowadays that damned good paying jobs in the trades are beneath them and that they should go to college so they never have to get their hands dirty. It's insane.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday March 30 2017, @07:40PM
That's a good point. Someone who is not the brightest bulb, but is skilled at some trade should be able to make decent money and have a decent life. A good paying job that they can do well and maybe even enjoy is something to be desired. Even if it is not the best paying job.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 30 2017, @11:34PM (3 children)
Failure to get a degree will normally remove a male from the marriage market.
This wasn't the case in times past. Degrees were uncommon, and they were especially uncommon for women. Most jobs were unavailable to women. Women needed men; men had purpose in life.
Generally, women don't want to marry down. They'd rather stay single, letting their fertile years go to waste. Mating with a male who seems inferior is just not accepted. Once past the fertile years, women become invisible.
Men aren't too comfortable marrying up either. This type of marriage is more prone to fail. Many men, probably even those who would deny it, do not feel right in this situation. Men have a need to be the provider.
The trades may bring in some money, but the lack of status (for the marriage market) makes them pretty worthless. Why bother?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 31 2017, @12:57AM (2 children)
Erm... you must associate with a vastly different species of females than humans. Every last one I've met has been nearly overjoyed at the prospect of changing their man, up to and including his financial and educational standing. And all he generally needed to get them to that point is a smidgin of confidence in himself and a lack of desire to be the hell away from her.
You do have a point about the uncomfortable men though.
And, for the record, you'd make far more as a plumber/welder/electrician with twenty years experience than you could as a dev/network admin except in extreme, <1% cases or situations where you've chosen a lower paying job for personal reasons.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @03:43AM (1 child)
> Every last one I've met
What's the common denominator there?
FYI, its called assortative mating and its the result of women moving towards equality in the workforce. There are now plenty of women with equal financial means for men to marry, so the opportunity for poor women to marry up is mostly gone.
Its also why marriage rates among the poor are so high, marriage is an economic privilege and if you are poor you can't afford it. Since poor women can no longer marry up, all they are left with are poor men. Taking on financial risk of a partner who is himself not a good earner is a bad bet. So poor women stay single even when they have children. That doesn't mean poor fathers are out of their children's lives, far from it actually. They just aren't a financial risk to the mother.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 31 2017, @10:04AM
So you're saying that at some time in the past young, single men were significantly better off than their middle-aged, married counterparts? Yeah, no. That is the exact opposite of reality.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.