Rural Communities

"On our projects we are not [even] supporting offshoring to exotic places like New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, etc.,"

The portion of workers who reach their jobs in less than 20 minutes dropped to 47% in 2000 after hovering around 50% for decades.

The trend toward ”backsourcing," when companies pull outsourced information technology functions back in-house from a contractor in the United States or abroad, is more widespread than is generally understood, Kaplan argues in a new Cutter report. There are little data on the outcome of outsourcing or backsourcing moves. But Kaplan says the main reason parties retreat from outsourcing deals is that they had agreed to unrealistic objectives.

Offshore is rapidly becoming "dual shore," as Indian-based outsourcers expand their U.S. operations. For example, Mumbai-based Tata Consultancy Services says it plans to hire 1,000 stateside employees in 2006.

In sprawling, congested areas, many people get to work by 7 a.m., the data show. Some may work early shifts, but �the general motivation for people leaving early is avoiding congestion,� says Phillip Salopek, a Census Bureau analyst. �As congestion worsens, the peak travel hour of the morning spreads.�

"The thing about technology is you can do it from anywhere,"

Mallet said businesses in rural areas have a main advantage: lower costs.

“You’ve got three ways to grow your community. You can attract in transplants, who are coming for either love or money (marriage or a job); you can get back the boomerangers; or you can keep the homegrowns, with their deep bench of history on the area.”

From a dairy farm in Pennsylvania to the public schools of rural Louisiana, novel technologies are turning up in out-of-the-way places.

“When people become rich, they tend to give things away. We in South Dakota must be some of the richest in the country, because we keep giving away the great minds of our young people.