Rural Communities

“Youth want to return to the community, but perceive a lack of opportunity,” Wall said. “With a large percentage of youth interested in staying or returning to the area, there is a great opportunity to work with them in creating opportunities that will help them act on this. Entrepreneurship education, meaningful youth community engagement and adult support could help shift this perspective,” he said.

Its website lists nearly 800 open positions in the San Francisco Bay Area alone.

Prosperity for many rural communities will depend on innovative income-generating strategies that attract people and jobs.

Just look at the big movers on Inc.’s annual survey of the nation’s boomtowns.

IT workers who telecommute share advice for their bosses about the process, technology, and attitudes necessary for staff to be productive when they work from home.

In my travels around the USA, I am increasingly meeting people who are living a more tranquil life in rural America, while maintaining their existing work via telecommunications and video technology. I think that we will see this trend continue to grow as babyboomers either take early retirement or move to locations that they want to live in for quality of life issues.

One thing employers aren’t paying for is IT certifications, Foote said. He added that companies in many cases "are looking at people with industry and customer experience" and who also have some technology skills.

The native-born are leaving "hip" cities for the heartland.

If you’ve ever thought about quitting your mundane, low-paying office job for a cushy position in the lucrative high-tech sector, now might be a good time to do it.

Tech executives are also backing a federal bill moving through the Senate seeking more math and science teachers in poor schools.