Trends in Producer Services Growth in the Rural Heartland

P roducer services, a collection of business-tobusiness service industries, have become an important source of job generation across America. In fact, 9.3 million of the 30.1 million new jobs created in the United States from 1974 to 1991 were in the producer services industry, the largest growth of any broad industrial sector in the nation. Has the rural Heartland shared in this producer services boom? This chapter explores the rapidly growing producer services industry in America’s rural Heartland. To provide insight into producer services growth, the chapter examines the results of a survey completed recently with producer service establishments. The survey uncovered many reasons why producer service firms locate in the Heartland, who their clients are, why their clients seek their services rather then producing them in-house, how information technologies affect the delivery and production of producer services, and whether producer services can prosper in the rural Heartland.