In the midst of difficult economic times, there is a bright spot in some smaller cities and surrounding rural areas. U.S. exports have boomed as the weakened dollar make U.S. products more competitive worldwide, and many products sent overseas are produced by rural Americans.
"Exports are impacting, in a positive manner, virtually every industry and every state," Daniel J. Meckstroth, an economist at the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, a public-policy and research group, tells Timothy Aeppel of The Wall Street Journal. Exports now make up the highest percentage of the gross domestic product since World War II. Farming, energy and aerospace are some of the greatest contributors to this growth, but the demand for American exports affects manufacturers producing items from violin strings to airplane parts.
The data supporting the article come from metropolitan areas, but Aeppel notes smaller communities such as Columbus, Ind., Kingsport, Tenn., and Waterloo, Iowa "have become trade hot spots." Such places provide employment for many rural commuters; a majority of Americans living in rural areas live in counties that are adjacent to metro areas. Many bigger cities have a large number of exports, "but their shipments to foreign customers are dwarfed by their domestic-oriented economies," Aeppel reports. (Read more)
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