Rural population loss is caused as much by low in‐migration as by high out‐migration, and for geographically disadvantaged nonmetropolitan counties in the United States, return migration plays a crucial role. This research captures impacts of return migrants on population, economy, and society in declining rural U.S. communities using a qualitative, multisited approach. Interviews conducted at high school reunions with rural returnees in their late 20s to late 40s show that the vast majority of returnees brought spouses and children back with them, increasing the short‐term and long‐term population. They also brought back much needed human capital, including education, job skills, and life experiences, and filled professional positions that are often hard to fill in rural communities. Entrepreneurial activities and self‐employment of many return migrants favorably affected rural economies by improving the employment base and expanding available services. Interviews show how decisions to move back were grounded in social relations that promoted civic engagement. While they mainly moved back for their children and their families, return migrants valued involvement in familiar social networks and the opportunities to make a difference in their rural hometowns.
Population loss persists in nonmetropolitan America, especially in isolated counties with limited natural amenities. Communities in these counties experience high levels of outmigration among high school graduates, but low in-migration is more important in distinguishing declining from growing nonmetropolitan counties, and return migration is a much more prominent component of in-migration to these locationally disadvantaged areas. This research uses a multisited, interview-based methodology to understand the factors that influence decisions of people in their late twenties to late forties to move back to rural communities and the barriers that keep others from making such moves. The life course segment considered here captures a critical "settling down" period when career and family obligations overlap and return migration peaks. Interviews at high school reunions, the only venues where stayers, return migrants, and nonreturn migrants are found together, show that limited rural employment opportunities are barriers for nonreturnees. Others intent on returning find ways to secure or create employment but are primarily influenced to move home by family concerns. Connections to the larger social and physical environment of the community are important as well. Interviews affirm that factors affecting migration decisions work in combination, and ties to both people and place are critical for understanding rural return migration. Key Words: population loss, qualitative methods, return migration, rural, United States. , , ,La pérdida de población es un fenómeno que persiste en lasáreas no metropolitanas de EE.UU., especialmente en los condados marginales dotados de pocas comodidades naturales. En las comunidades de estos condados se experimentan altos niveles de emigración en los graduados de educación media, aunque el escaso movimiento migratorio contrario es más importante para distinguir la declinación con relación a los condados no metropolitanos en crecimiento, y la migración de retorno es un componente mucho más notorio de la migración interna hacia estasáreas locacionalmente desfavorecidas. Esta investigación utiliza una metodología de sitios múltiples basada en entrevistas para entender los factores que influyen las decisiones de retornar a las comunidades rurales entre la gente con edades situadas entre los veintes tardíos y los finales de los cuarenta, y establecer las barreras que previenen a otros de tal desplazamiento. Este segmento del curso de la vida que se considera aquí engloba un período crítico de "asentamiento" cuando las obligaciones de la carrera y la familia se traslapan y la migración de retorno llega a su pico. Por entrevistas hechas durante asambleas en los colegios de bachillerato,únicos sitios de reunión donde se pueden encontrar juntos a quienes no han migrado, los que retornan y los otros migrantes, muestran que las limitadas oportunidades de empleo rural son una seria barrera para los in-migrantes. Otros intentan con el retorno descubrir los medios para hallar empleo o crearlo, aunque lo...
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