The development of a fast and reliable Internet, new technologies online payment systems, and changes in work structure that enable and demand flexible working patterns have driven a move to a new form of Internet‐enabled labour exchange called crowdsourcing. Evidence from an in‐depth qualitative study is presented, focusing on selected users' interactions and experiences of working on two UK‐based crowdsourcing platforms. The paper shows that workers engaged in this form of labour exchange need to deploy existing employability skills and networks to effectively meet the challenges, and take advantage of the opportunities, that crowdsourcing presents. Individual factors and circumstances emerge as paramount for workers' continued engagement in this form of employment. Using selected components from an employability framework, the findings suggest that crowdsourcing can offer new pathways to practising skills and enhancing employability for some workers.

By 2009 four in every fi ve job seekers in Great Britain were making use of the Internet in job search, generally alongside other methods. While the Internet has created new opportunities for job seekers, there are concerns that inequalities in use of and access to the Internet will intensify diffi culties experienced by disadvantaged groups in fi nding work. This paper analyses the incidence and determinants of online job search in Great Britain, using Labour Force Survey data for 2006 to 2009. Use of the Internet increased over this period, with employed job seekers most likely to undertake online job search. A probit model reveals that age and highest qualifi cation are key factors aff ecting individuals' use of the Internet for job search, with older job seekers and those with lower education levels most likely to 'lose out' in terms of accessing employment opportunities via the Internet. Some signifi cant urban and regional diff erences are revealed, indicating that job seekers from less prosperous regions and those outside major metropolitan areas are least likely to make use of the Internet for job search.

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This paper aims to provide insights into the recruitment and retention issues faced by employers in rural areas. To this end, information gathered through interviews with employers and labour market intermediaries in the predominantly rural county of Lincolnshire, UK was used as a source of data and focal point to discuss the demand side of the labour market. A distinction is made between circumstances in which there are hard-tofill vacancies on the one hand, and the effects of an abundant labour supply on the other. The factors that affect labour retention are also discussed, including situations in which staff retention is a non-issue. Recognising the fact that economic life exists within, and is affected by the social context, the views of employers and labour market intermediaries are also analysed in the light of data from other sources. The paper concludes by suggesting that employers" recruitment and retention issues cannot be studied in isolation; the supply side as well as the demographic, economic, and political context need to be considered as well. KEY WORDSRural labor markets / employers / hard-to-fill vacancies / Lincolnshire / recruitment / retention 1.Introduction The problems facing workers in rural areas have been addressed by a number of studies. Challenges include a relative lack of professional/high-level jobs in sectors such as finance and business (Experian 2005), limited opportunities for gaining and broadening work experience (Lindsay et al 2003), and accessibility factors, including limited transport and mobility (Hodge et al 2002). The issues facing employers, although related, have received less attention and it is argued here that these are worthy of greater consideration. Learning about the situation and needs of employers in rural areas is crucial for understanding labour market processes in these areas and for formulating policy interventions relating to skills and local economic development more generally. This paper"s aim is to provide insights into the recruitment and retention issues faced by employers in rural areas. To this end, information gathered through interviews with employers and labour market intermediaries in Lincolnshire was used as a source of data and focal point to discuss the demand side of the labour market. But, as suggested by the concept of "embeddedness", economic life exists within, and is affected by the social context (Uzzi 1997; Atterton 2007). Likewise, employers do not exist in isolation and an analysis of their recruitment problems raises the need to consider their relationship with the wider context. Thus, information provided by employers and labour market intermediaries was analysed against the wider context to critically assess its implications.The paper is organised into five main sections, including the present one. The next section sets the context by outlining key features of the changing socio-economic and demographic profile of rural areas and associated implications for the restructuring of rural labour markets. The third section...