Krystyna Szafraniec

Between the School and Labour Market. Rural Areas and Rural Youth in Poland, Romania and Russia

Abstract The article analyses the process of rural youth entering the labour market in selected post-communist countries (Poland, Romania and Russia). Based on different types of local (national) and international source data, similarities and differences are discussed between the analysed countries. The article focuses on transition from education to a satisfactory job, nowadays a very complex process that takes up nearly the entire third decade of young people’s life. Although this process is just an external manifestation of general changes occurring in labour markets around the world, the experience of young people from post-communist countries in this area seems to be more traumatic than that of their peers in developed Western countries. Despite significant investments in education, it is difficult to deal with new challenges, particularly for the youth from rural areas. In all the analysed countries, chaotic career paths are typical of this population, and they are often based on temporary jobs, informal forms of employment or self-employment.

Looking for a Specificity of Rural Youth. The Polish Case

Abstract In social consciousness a view is embedded that our rural and agrarian areas are our weakness which limits our development potential and social change. Whatever the reasons (mostly historical) for this view, the divide into rural and urban areas, Poland A and Poland B, is frequently referred to and just as frequently exaggerated, supporting thus various stereotypes and prejudices.1 Do they also concern the young generation? Rural areas in Poland are subject to dynamic transformation. The image of rural areas and its reception across society is changing positively. The favourable balance between migration and a growing interest among young people in the countryside as a future place of residence can be used as an example. However, this does not mean that the problem of rural areas and regional differences in Poland has been resolved. Neither do the changes happen as rapidly as could have been expected, nor do they happen in parallel in terms of geography and social structure. Not all of them are positive. The large number of small farms (although land concentration was expected in agriculture) is disturbing. The succession to economically weak farmsteads (which shows that in the face of no employment and non-agricultural life prospects an economically non-viable farm seems - from an individual perspective - the best possible solution). This phenomenon gives rise to many questions. Here, we only want to discuss the questions concerning the young generation - whether their aspirations and life goals, educational decisions, places of residence can be conducive to change (inside and outside rural areas) or rather impede them?