Economics & Sociology

Multi-annual social and economic processes as well as political system transformation have shaped the present economic status of rural areas, including the structure of rural population’s sources of income. The results of these processes are expressed in particular in: decreasing role of agriculture in employment and creation of rural population’s income; growing importance of non-agricultural activities with respect to job and income creation; weakened role of hired labour outside of rural areas (shuttle migration); significant professional deactivation of rural population as a result of demographic changes, social policy solutions and economic regression in many regions; decreased demand for agricultural products, which contributes to insufficient exploitation of productive potential and unemployment; disadvantageous price relations, which lead to transfer of value added outside of agriculture; increasing diversification of economic situation in the rural areas.