Non-agricultural rural employment and urban-rural migration: is there a connection?

Abstract

The article examines the impact on rural non-agricultural employment of two trends — development of return migration to rural areas and the spread of nonstandard forms of work and jobs (distance work, platform employment, self-employment, subcontracting, etc.). In terms of rural employment development, the ongoing blurring of the concepts of "place of residence" and "place of work" creates an influx of "new" high-income urban workers in rural areas, and also significantly expands employment opportunities for the indigenous rural population. The paper hypothesizes that employment in rural areas and, more generally, the development of rural areas will be determined, among other things, by the urban-rural migration, with temporary or seasonal migration, as well as moving for long periods of time or for permanent residence. The traditional view of non-agricultural employment as employment of the indigenous rural population who have lost their jobs in agriculture leads to ignoring of these trends, lack of policies to encourage return migration to rural areas, and limited measures of state support for rural labor market. There is made a conclusion about the need to expand the concept of rural employment to «out-of-town employment», which takes into account new opportunities and forms of employment, including for city dwellers seeking to leave the city in order to improve their quality of life. Additionally, the issue is raised about the need for research on the commercial re-use of agricultural assets — mainly real estate — by non-agrarian businesses in order to facilitate the transfer of urban businesses to rural area and the diversification of the rural economy.