The Appalachian Economy, Establishment and Employment Dynamics, 1982-1997: Evidence from the Longitudinal Business Database

May 2003
Foster, Lucia
Bureau of the Census Center for Economic Studies

This report describes the Appalachian Region's economy in terms of the entry and exit of establishments and their wage and employment dynamics and compares these to the rest of the U.S. economy from 1982 to 1997. While the report provides a detailed description of the entire economy of Appalachia, special attention is paid to the producer services portion of the economy. Producer services are services sold primarily to other establishments to be used as inputs in production and include such activities as financial services, insurance and real estate services, advertising, building maintenance services, equipment rentals, employment services, computer and data processing services, legal services, engineering, and management. Producer services are an increasingly important component of the U.S. economy. In addition, the three subregions of Appalachia are also analyzed.

Full Report in PDF (200 KB)