This theme issue of the newsletter "Southern Perspectives" contains five articles on labor supply and demand issues in the rural South: "An Overview of Employment Changes in the Nonmetropolitan South" (David L. Barkley) examines nonmetro earnings trends in 16 southern states and employment trends in selected industries in the nonmetro South, 1991-96. Future prospects for rural labor demand are discussed, focusing on internationalization of competition, service sector growth, new production technologies, and industrial restructuring. "Rural-Urban Migration, the Rural Renaissance, and the Rural Rebound in the South" (Mark Nord, John Cromartie) details migration trends in the 1990s for the rural South by age, education, income, and race/ethnicity and finds that immigrants included disproportionately larger shares of young families and high school graduates. "The Geography of New Manufacturing Technology: Implications for the Rural South" (David A. McGranahan) shows that in the 1990s, manufacturing jobs moved out of rural counties with higher high school dropout rates and into rural counties with lower dropout rates. "Underemployment in the South" (Leif Jensen) provides data on rural-urban differences in various types of underemployment in 1998 and in total underemployment in the South by race/ethnicity for 1968-98. "A Profile of Mexican Workers in the Southern Region: A Focus on Nonmetro/Metro Distinctions" (Rogelio Saenz) profiles rural-urban differences in age, income, education, language use, and occupation of Mexican Americans in the South in 1999. (Contains references and data tables.) (SV)