Spheres of Employment in Rural Areas of the Penza Region and the Republic of Tatarstan (Based on Statistics and Interview Materials)

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The problems of the rural labor market are relevant for the Russian rural economy and have their own characteristics in the regions. The article analyzes the employment opportunities provided by the rural environment of the Penza region and the Republic of Tatarstan. The villagers in these regions are employed in the formal sphere (employment in large agricultural organizations, peasant farms, work in budgetary organizations, engaging in agricultural and non-agricultural business) and in the informal sphere (work in private farmsteads, one-time hired employment, earnings on the road). According to the All-Russian Agricultural Census 2016 and expert assessments in interviews, rural residents of the Penza region more often than in the Republic of Tatarstan develop non-agricultural businesses, hire workers to work in private farmsteads, participate more actively in labor migration, preferring to leave for large Russian cities and especially to Moscow. The villagers of Tatarstan more often than in the region are employed in large agricultural organizations; they hire workers in farms, prefer to develop agricultural business, go to work, mainly in the cities of the republic. In both regions, the processes of demographic aging of the countryside, migration activity of young people, issues of low wages, a shortage of qualified personnel and seasonal employment in rural areas are relevant.