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Financial hardships, lack of broadband internet access and poor healthcare options are the biggest needs facing rural Americans during the pandemic, according to a new survey of economics and workforce experts.
Thomas P. Miller and Associates, a national workforce and economic development consulting firm in Indianapolis, in the Welfare Through Equity Survey published Monday, said 77% of respondents cited the lack of affordable housing as the top need in the rural communities in which they work. .
Access to subsistence wage jobs (74%), broadband internet (73%), and quality healthcare (63%) were the next top needs identified by the survey.
“Despite the billions of dollars the federal government has given them, we have found that many rural communities do not have a plan to meet these needs,” said Andrea Adkins-Hutchins, the company’s chief operating officer. “Maybe the solution is not to give them more money, but to find alternative support solutions.”
More than 40% of professionals surveyed said there was no “plan in place” to meet the needs in their community.
The survey reports that the socioeconomic recovery of rural Americans from COVID-19 is delayed compared to urban communities, and government aid is not reaching smaller communities.
This report comes as Americans struggle with record inflation in housing and healthcare prices, as well as unprecedented turnover in the job market.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey, released Monday, found that Americans’ fears of inflation remained at record highs in early 2022 – respondents predicted the U.S. inflation rate would rise 6% a year thereafter, the highest since the survey asked this question in June 2013. started to ask.
And as a record 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs in November, job gaps fell slightly.
Other surveys showed a downward trend in the quality of life of rural Americans even before the outbreak.
A 2018 report from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIH) found that more than 60% of rural Americans live in “mental health professional shortage zones,” a problem that experts say is exacerbated under the COVID-19 shutdowns.
In the Thomas P. Miller and Associates survey, 60% of respondents said that the biggest barrier to quality healthcare in rural areas is a lack of financial resources.
Despite increased medical needs during COVID-19, nearly half (44%) of respondents reported lack of access to quality care.
Of those surveyed, 68% reported a lack of education on mental health in their community, and 64% reported a lack of quality mental health and support programs.
Respondents ranked access to quality health care as the fourth of the 12 top needs in rural communities. Access to mental health support ranked seventh, ahead of childcare, community infrastructure, and crime prevention at 57%.
The survey, which included 148 economics and workforce development experts across the country, was conducted online from May 5 to September 7. This survey included virtual listening sessions with rural residents in Indiana and Louisiana.
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