The Population Turnaround in Central Appalachia : A Focus on Eastern Kentucky Coal Counties / Lorraine Garkovich.

Examining the reversal in out migration since 1970, this study of seven coal-producing, non-metropolitan counties in Eastern Kentucky explored employment related reasons for moving and compared socioeconomic characteristics of residents and migrants. Viewed as typical of major social and economic trends in central Appalachia, Kentucky was chosen for the mail questionnaire survey involving a sample of 2,958 registered voters, whose response rate was 68.9%. Results indicated: (1) strong kinship networks existed in the area; (2) the main reasons for moving to the area were family ties, employment, environment, and retirement; (3) migrants returning because of family ties were younger, less educated, more likely to hold blue-collar jobs, and had lower income; and (4) Kentucky residents were older, less educated, and more likely to hold white-collar jobs than migrants. Conclusions were: (1) kinship ties were seen as a major auspice of migration that may provide a social organization within which migration occurs, even among people who are seeking employment; (2) recent improvements in the coal industry have not been the major stimulus for migration, as quality of life and extended kinship ties were deemed more important reasons for return migration; (3) the "revival of nonmetropolitan America" should be seen as a multifarious phenomenon. (JD)

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