Youth on the land - professional opportunities and labour market risks

Structural change and modernisation on the land have not removed urban and rural differentiations. In many rural regions the problems arising from lac k of training vacancies and jobs are exacerbated by the low population dens ity. It may be assumed that young people in peripheral and thinly populated rural areas experience special problems in realising their wishes with reg ard to education, training and a profession. The professional opportunities in these regions should not lag behind, and the risks inherent in the labo ur market should not exceed, those obtaining in more densely populated area s. Unemployment and the search for training opportunities present a major p roblem for juveniles and young adults, and the effects of unemployment and of failure to find a training vacancy do not stop at the individual. As res earch into the sources, and its findings, in the various sub-fields of this topic (rural development, youth research and regional planning, education and the labour market) have revealed, the labour market situation for young people is subject to a multiplicity of influences, which have been summari sed here. In problem regions where prospects for juveniles and young adults are in process of development, and where they are participating in this, d ata and findings such as these are vital for the regional concepts and thei r implementation. Bur. many gaps in our knowledge have also been brought to light, which have created a demand for further research and action.