Employment of the Rural Labour Force: State, Problems, Trends

Abstract

Employment is one of the constitutional rights that guarantees any human being a right to work and is protected by the state. In matters of employment among rural residents, there are problems that require an in-depth study. Many research works indicate that these problems have a regional specificity, which must be taken into account when developing recommendations. To identify this specificity, the author analysed the state and determined the main trends in the development of labour force employment in Lipetsk Oblast. The analysis shows that the region has a significant amount of labour force in rural areas, accounting for 29.8% (2018) of the total labour force throughout the region. There is a tendency towards a gradual reduction in labour force with an average rate of 0.5% per year. The state of rural labour force employment in the region is different across districts. State organisations play a great role in providing employment. Employment is diversified by the type of activity. The most serious problems in rural employment are: a high level of unregistered unemployment, no progress in the development of small business in rural areas as a way to increase employment, a negative impact of low initial wage rates for open jobs on the employment centre website. The trends in the development of employment in rural areas are: the increasing importance of nonagricultural sectors of the economy for employing the rural labour force and better employment in districts with actively developing industrial production.