The labor potential of rural areas of Kazakhstan in the context of digitalization of the economy

Abstract

The goal is to reveal main directions for increasing the efficiency of labor potential of rural areas of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the context of digitalization of the economy, to identify criteria and analyze factors of its growth. Methods – comparative analysis and scientific abstraction, allowing to determine the importance of rural labor resources in production of public goods and increasing reproduction. Results – there is no general indicator that determines the activity of the personnel and conditions for its formation. According to the authors, the prerequisites for this are ecological-geographical, socio-economic, technological development and digital transformation. The priority areas of demographic policy and mechanisms for increasing employment and profitability of rural workers are given. The structure of the agricultural labor market is considered: the level of innovative activity of enterprises in the context of regions; the number of farmers users of the Internet system in different countries. Conclusions – information and communication systems in the economy have reduced the gap in the quality of education between rural and urban schools by more than 30%, and digital entrepreneurship also involves the creation of new enterprises characterized by: the use of digital technologies to improve business operations, the invention of digital business models, interacting with customers and stakeholders through digital platforms. Taking into account the real situation, it is necessary to find opportunities for optimizing the activities of the able-bodied part of the population of the Kazakhstani village, while it is important to analyze the economic and technological needs of economic entities in agricultural sector. Also, the authors focus on some practical problems that the researcher and manager face when assessing the labor potential of rural areas.