California's San Joaquin Valley: a Region in Transition
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Order Code RL33184 CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web California’s San Joaquin Valley: A Region in Transition December 12, 2005 Tadlock Cowan, Coordinator Analyst in Rural and Regional Development Policy Resources, Science, and Industry Division Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress California’s San Joaquin Valley: A Region in Transition Summary CRS was requested to undertake a study of the San Joaquin Valley (SJV) and a comparison with another U.S. region. The eight-county San Joaquin Valley, part of California’s Central Valley, is home to 5 of the 10 most agriculturally productive counties in the United States. By a wide range of indicators, the SJV is also one of the most economically depressed regions of the United States. This report analyzes the SJV’s counties and statistically documents the basis of current socioeconomic conditions. The report further explores the extent to which the SJV shares similarities with and differs from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) area and a 68- county Central Appalachian subregion which contains some of the most economically distressed counties in Appalachia. The report also examines the role of federal expenditures in the cities and counties of the SJV. During the past twenty-five years, population growth rates in the SJV were significantly higher than for California or the United States and their projected growth rates over the next 20 years are also significantly higher. In 2000, the SJV also had substantially higher rates of poverty than California or the United States. Poverty rates were also significantly higher in the SJV than in the ARC region, although the rate is somewhat lower than that of the Central Appalachian subregion. Unemployment rates in the SJV were higher than in California or the United States and the ARC area. Per capita income and average family income were higher in the SJV than in Central Appalachia, but per capita income in the SJV was lower than in the ARC region as a whole. SJV households also had higher rates of public assistance income than did Central Appalachian households. Madera County ranked among the 10 lowest per capita income Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the United States in 2003, and the other 5 MSAs in the San Joaquin were all in the bottom 20% of all U.S. MSAs. Other indicators of social well-being discussed in the report showed that the SJV is a region of significant economic distress. Data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census’s Consolidated Federal Funds Reports for 2002 and 2003 showed that every SJV county received fewer federal funds than the national per capita average or for California. Most SJV counties received approximately $1,240- $2,800 per capita less than the national per capita rate in 2002. Madera County had $3,176 per capita less than the national per capita rate in 2003. Two rural counties adjacent to the SJV, Mariposa and Tuolomne, received significantly higher per capita rates of federal funding in 2003 than the SJV. In 2002, the SJV received $1,559 less per capita in federal funds than the ARC region as a whole. The SJV also received $2,860 per capita less than the Tennessee Valley Authority region in 2003. Other federal funds data for 2000 also show that the per capita rate of federal spending was lower in the SJV than in the generally depressed Central Appalachian subregion. In addition to examining socioeconomic conditions in the SJV, the report provides analysis of water supply and quality issues especially those concerning agriculture, air quality concerns, and rail and shipping issues. This report will not be updated. Contributing Staff Areas of Expertise Name Division Telephone Regional Economic Development, Agriculture, Federal Tadlock Cowan RSI 7-7600 Expenditures, and Project Coordinator Economic, Social, and Demographic Gerald Mayer DSP 7-7815 Information Air Quality James McCarthy RSI 7-7225 Census of Agriculture and Electronic Data Carol Canada KSG 7-7619 Resources Education David Smole DSP 7-0624 Atilla Akgun Shelly Butts Electronic Publishing Laura Comay ERPO 7-8734 Shelley Harlan Katie Yancey Food Stamps Joe Richardson DSP 7-7325 Geographical Information System Virginia Mason GMD 7-8520 Cartography Health Indicators Pamela Smith DSP 7-7048 Highways Robert KirkRSI 7-7769 Medicare Paulette Morgan DSP 7-7317 Obesity Donna Porter DSP 7-7032 Teen Births Carmen Solomon-Fears KSG 7-7306 Transportation Infrastructure and John Frittelli RSI 7-7033 Economic Development Water Supply and Betsy Cody RSI 7-7229 Infrastructure Water Quality Claudia Copeland RSI 7-7227 All Divisions are CRS except Geography and Maps, a Division of the Library of Congress. Abbreviations: RSI = Resources, Science and Industry; DSP = Domestic Social Policy; KSG = Knowledge Service Group; ERPO = Electronic Research Products; GMD = Geography and Map Division Contents Chapter 1 — An Overview of the San Joaquin Valley .....................1 Introduction ..............................................1 Contemporary Research on the SJV ...............................3 Demographic Issues and the Role of Farmworkers................4 Agricultural Immigration ....................................7 Employment, Poverty, and Income ............................9 Regional Approaches to Economic Development....................11 Introduction .............................................11 The Appalachian Regional Commission.......................12 Tennessee Valley Authority.............................14 Delta Regional Authority...................................15 The United States-Mexico Border Health Commission ...........15 The Northern Great Plains Regional Authority (NGPRA) .........16 Denali Commission.......................................17 Chapter 2 — The San Joaquin Valley and Appalachia: A Socioeconomic Comparison ....................................19 Overview...............................................19 Socioeconomic Indicators in the SJV and Appalachia, 1980-2003 .......25 County and Regional Population Characteristics .................25 Appalachia’s Demographic Structure .........................27 County and Regional Poverty Rates ..........................47 Other Poverty Measures: Food Stamps, Public Assistance Income, Health Insurance, and Medicaid..........................53 County and Regional Employment and Income Measures .........66 County and Regional Educational Measures ....................93 Health and Disease Rates in the SJV.....................103 Age-Adjusted Death Rates from Cancers .....................106 Health and Disease Profile of Appalachia.....................107 Crimes and Crime Rates in the SJV and Appalachia.............127 Chapter 3 — Federal Direct Expenditures in the San Joaquin Valley and the Appalachian Regional Commission Area...................133 Scope.................................................133 The Consolidated Federal Funds Report ......................134 Comparing FY2002 Federal Expenditures in the San Joaquin, the United States, and California...........................136 Federal Funding in the SJV and the TVA for FY2003 ...........138 Comparing Federal Funding in the Appalachian Regional Commission Area to Federal Funding in the SJV ...........139 Federal Funding in Appalachia and the San Joaquin: The Economic Research Service Data .......................146 Geographical Information System Mapping of Federal Funds Data .....153 Chapter 4 — The Economic Structure of the San Joaquin Valley ..........163 Introduction ............................................163 Agriculture in the SJV........................................164 Trends in the Structure of SJV Agriculture....................164 Agriculture and SJV Communities ..........................166 Agricultural Land Conversion ..............................167 SJV Farm Characteristics..................................168 Agricultural Labor.......................................170 Agriculture’s Future in the San Joaquin ......................190 The Non-Agricultural Economy of the San Joaquin .................192 Overview..............................................192 SJV County Employment Profiles ...........................193 Appalachian State Employment Profiles......................210 Labor Force Characteristics in the San Joaquin.................210 Fresno Regional Jobs Initiative .............................221 The Health Care Industry as a Growth Sector for the SJV ............223 Chapter 5 — Selected Natural Resource and Environmental Issues in the SJV..................................................244 Water Resources of the SJV ...................................244 Water Supply Infrastructure ................................245 Water Quality Issues in the SJV ................................248 Overview..............................................248 Irrigated Agriculture and Water Quality ......................248 Actions to Address Impaired Waters.........................250 A TMDL Example.......................................252 Financial Assistance......................................253 Managing Manure at Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations........253 Funding Sources for CAFOs ...............................254 Air Quality Issues in the SJV ...................................256 Ozone.................................................256 Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5) .........................258 Federal Assistance.......................................259 Chapter 6 — Transportation Investment and Economic Development.......260 The Federal-Aid