摘要：Concerns have been raised that potential retail activity is being
lost in rural areas. This study examines the response of retail employment
and the number of retail establishments to changes in local employment
in isolated rural areas. Since many attempts to strengthen rural
retail activity focused on increasing market size by attracting manufacturing
activities, special a ttention is devoted to the empirical analysis
of the manufacturing/retail relationship. Using data from the upper
Midwest, a statistically significant association between changes in manufacturing
employment and resulting changes in retail employment was
found. The stimulative impact of manufacturing employment on retail
activity was found to be more consistent than other types of job growth.
Manufacturing activity also stimulated new retail establishments. Competition
from nearby metropolitan areas contributed to the difficulty rural
areas have in retail development and the difficulty may be increasing
since the start of the analysis.
