Abstract
A decade ago it was predicted that the migration of American industry would produce a crisis in the Midwest. Manufacturing plants, attracted by the climate or favorable tax and labor policies were expected to shift their operation to the South and West. It was feared the shift would become an inexorable movement and that such heartland states as Nebraska would be denuded and face pockets of poverty. | Today it appears that such worries were groundless. A recent study by McGraw-Hill indicates that states west of the Mississippi River have experienced a more rapid growth in industrial development than the rest 2 of the country. This study shows that the real migration of industry has not been among regions but the persistent movement from the established urban centers to smaller satellite cities. | The State of Nebraska has experienced industrial growth in line with the trends found in the McGraw-Hill study. According to the 1963 Census of Manufacturing there was an increase of 6,805 or 89% in the number of manufacturing establishments in the state between 1954 and 1963. Sixty percent of this increase was in rural areas of the state. Production workers in manufacturing establishments in the state increased by 9,647 or 2.6% from 1947 to 1963. The increase during this period was 4.6% in rural areas and 1.7% in urban areas.