This report analyzes 30-year trends in population, jobs, income, poverty, and education in the South, including comparisons to national trends and projections for the year 2010. The report aims to document the South's success in overcoming poverty and discrimination, draw attention to barriers that block further economic progress, and make recommendations to regional leaders for future goals. States included in the analysis are Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. The report is based on data from the decennial Census (1970-1990), the March 1994 Current Population Survey, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (U.S. Department of Commerce). This report concludes that: (1) the region's immediate future requires massive adult education and retraining to cope with an aging workforce and a decline in young workers; (2) the shift away from traditional industries requires that the region pay attention both to creating jobs and to raising income if it expects further progress; (3) demographic trends and inadequate education threaten the South's continued prosperity in an economy that increasingly discriminates against the uneducated and single-parent families; (4) despite substantial improvements in state poverty rates, economic erosion appears in both rural areas and central cities; (5) despite remarkable progress over the past 20 years, too few Southerners finish high school, take postsecondary classes, graduate from college, or earn doctoral degrees; and (6) education is the key to making the South more competitive, with better jobs, higher-skilled workers and stronger businesses. Includes many maps and figures. (LP)