Employment of the Rural Population: The Basis for Sustainable

Development of the Regions of Kazakhstan

Tatyana S. Sokira

, Zhanat Zh. Belgibayeva

and Almazhan M. Dzhulaeva

Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan

Keywords: Rural Population, Employment, Unemployment, Labor Market, Income, Indicator.

Abstract: The article considers the problems of employment of the rural population, identifies trends in the labor market.

Based on the data of the Committee on Statistics of the Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of

Kazakhstan, the indicators of employment and unemployment of the rural population were analyzed and

systematized. The factors, influencing the level of employment in rural areas, are identified and the need for

the development of alternative types of employment, diversification of the agriculture-based economy,

innovative transformations in rural area in order to improve the well-being and quality of life of the rural

population are justified. The use of artificial intelligence, the emergence of "smart greenhouses", "smart

farms" have a dual impact on the rural labor market. On the one hand, innovative technologies will contribute

to an increase of labor efficiency, automation and mechanization of production processes, and an increase in

farmers' earnings. On the other hand, the introduction and use of innovative technologies require competitive

qualified personnel.

1 INTRODUCTION

Employment is not only the most important economic

category, but also one of the main indicators of the

labor market. Indicator - the level of employment

characterizes not only the degree of involvement of

the labor force in the production process, job security,

but also the social status of the employee.

Unemployed people do not have a steady source of

income, do not achieve their potential and experience

stress about this.

Insurance of productive employment, reduction of

unemployment, regulation of the labor market,

assistance to socially vulnerable groups of the

population are among the list of problems, requiring

concerted efforts from the state, entrepreneurs and

society as a whole.

As noted by the leader of the nation N.A.

Nazarbayev in his speech "Social modernization of

Kazakhstan: Twenty steps to the Society of Universal

Labor" all the values of world civilization, all

economic and cultural wealth are created by human

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labor. The state is not an endless donor, but a partner,

that creates conditions for the growth of the well-

being of citizens. An alternative to the ideology of

consumption should be the idea of creating a Society

of Universal Labor (Nazarbayev, 2012).

Kazakhstan determined the main priorities of

social modernization, aimed at creating an effective

system for obtaining professional skills and

qualifications in demand in the labor market,

developing mass entrepreneurship, creating an

effective model of employment agency services, and

adopted the state program for the development of

productive employment and mass entrepreneurship

"Enbek" for 2017-2021 (State Program, 2018).

2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Problems of insurance of productive employment are

central to state economic policy and are of polemical

character. Employment affects all aspects of a

person's life, determines the level of his income and

Sokira, T., Belgibayeva, Z. and Dzhulaeva, A.

Employment of the Rural Population: The Basis for Sustainable Development of the Regions of Kazakhstan.

DOI: 10.5220/0010590303390344

In Proceedings of the International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference on Sustainable Development of Regional Infrastructure (ISSDRI 2021), pages 339-344

ISBN: 978-989-758-519-7

339

quality of life. Mass unemployment, low salaries

destabilize the situation in society, cause conflicts and

negatively affect the satisfaction with the daily living

needs of the population. The subject of our study is

the employment of the population in rural areas,

which is especially need for scientific research.

As a methodological basis for research, the

dialectical method was used, which studies the

processes of employment in continuous development,

taking into account qualitative and quantitative

changes, and causation. The main indicators of the

labor market in different periods of time were studied

using the historical method. The levels of

employment and unemployment among the urban and

rural population were studied using the economic and

statistical method. The method of system analysis

allowed to consider economic phenomena in mutual

connection, identify factors of influence and justify

the prospects for insuring productive employment of

the rural population of Kazakhstan.

3 RESULTS OF RESEARCH

Each state, depending on its capabilities, availability

of resources, taking into account the mentality of the

population and established traditions, solves the

problem of employment. There is a clear interrelation

between the level of employment and the level of

economic development of a country. Poor countries

have limited employment and good income

opportunities.

With the administrative-planned economy, every

citizen of the country was provided with social

guarantees in the form of employment, stable salary,

and measures were taken to combat mooching. At that

time, in the agricultural sector, there was a need to

attract additional labor, which allowed to perform the

entire volume of agricultural seasonal work on time.

An extremely difficult situation developed in the

CIS countries during the transition period, especially

in rural areas. Low incomes, mainly hand manual

work, insufficient level of housing improvements,

lack of attractive vacancies, underdevelopment of the

rural labor market, caused an intensive outflow of the

rural population, which negatively affected

employment and the distribution of labor force

(Bondarenko and Tatarova, 2019; Maksumhanova et

al., 2020). It was necessary to reorganize to market

principles of activity, to take into account the ratio of

labor demand and labor supply.

Employment in agriculture declined at a faster

rate, than in the economy as a whole (Nefedova,

2019). There was an overflow of labor and capital

from agriculture to other spheres of economic

activity. Along with various forms of full, productive,

precarious, seasonal employment, unemployed

persons and self-employed workers appeared.

Table 1: Index of employment of the urban and rural population of Kazakhstan, thousand people.

Indicators 1991 2000 2005 2010 2015 2019

Urban population

Employed population 4876.6 3792.0 4077.9 4240.4 4858.5 5132.1

Employees 4669.2 2541.8 3192.8 3443.7 4069.0 4312.4

Self-employed workers 207.4 1250.2 885.1 796.7 789.5 819.7

Unemployed population - 530.8 402.7 282.3 260.0 258.8

Rural population

Employed population 2839.6 2409.0 3183.1 3873.8 3574.9 3648.8

Employees 2720.3 962.6 1447.7 1965.7 2225.9 2369.2

Self-employed workers 119.3 1446.4 1735.4 1908.1 1349.0 1279.6

Unemployed population - 375.6 238.1 214.2 194.2 181.9

Note: compiled on the basis of data from the source (Employment in Kazakhstan, 2020)

So, in 2000, the number of unemployed people

already amounted to 906.4 thousand people,

including among the urban population - 530.8

thousand people and among the rural population,

375.6 thousand people, respectively. The number of

self-employed persons increased sharply. In 2019, the

analyzed indicators were as follows: the number of

labor force in Kazakhstan was 9221.5 thousand

ISSDRI 2021 - International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference on Sustainable Development of Regional Infrastructure

340

people, the number of employed population was

8780.8 thousand people, the number of employees

was 6681.6 thousand people, the number of self-

employed workers was 2099.2 thousand people and

the number of unemployed was 440.7 thousand

people.

Since 2000, there has been a clear trend towards

an increase in the number of self-employed people

among the rural population. In 2010, this indicator

was 1908.1 thousand people. This state of matters can

be explained by the fact, that large enterprises in the

agricultural sector stopped to function and former

workers of state farms, collective farms were forced

to shift their efforts to personal subsidiary plots, make

products on their subsidiary plot and sell them on the

local market.

It should be noted, that in 2019 the share of self-

employed workers among the urban population was

15.9%; among the rural population - 35.1%. The

unemployment rate in 2019 compared to 2000

decreased 2.7 times, which is explained by measures,

taken at the state level to stabilize the socio-economic

situation in the country, the development of small and

medium-sized businesses, and the activation of

entrepreneurial activity.

Since the main producers of agricultural products

during the transition to the market were agricultural

enterprises, individual entrepreneurs and peasant or

farm holdings, as well as households, the structure of

employment of the rural population have been

changing during the analyzed period, which is due to

the role of the category of holdings in ensuring food

security.

Meanwhile, during the transition period, due to

aggravated problems, in some areas, there was a

degradation of villages. The level of employment

signals material well-being, the opportunity of

ensuring a good lifestyle. To develop a set of

measures to improve the socio-economic situation in

rural areas, a detailed analysis of the factors

influencing the current trend in the labor market of

rural residents is required (Postnova et al., 2020).

Rural areas significantly differ in their location,

level of development, demographic and social

conditions. For this reason, it is necessary to analyze

their strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and

threats, develop a strategy and tactics for

development, take into account trends in employment

and formation of sources of income (Bryden and

Bollman, 2000).

To solve actual problems in rural areas, an

integrated approach is recommended, that provides

for an increase in employment and incomes of the

population through the development of alternative

forms of employment, diversification of the

economy, improvement of rural areas, and the

introduction of innovations (Khanmagomedov,

2020).

In recent years, much attention has been paid in

Kazakhstan to agricultural, medical, and coastal

tourism. The urban population shows interest in

resting in the countryside, rents premises, goes on

gastronomic and entertainment tours. During the

pandemic, the demand for medicinal products made

from mare's milk increased. There was an opportunity

to come to the farm and take a health-improving

treatment. Among the entertainment services,

horseback riding, hunting, fishing, folk crafts, and

national cuisine are popular (Tikhonova and Shik,

2008).

During the summer season, the flow of tourists,

who want to improve their health and recuperate on

the unique lakes Alakol, Balkhash, the Caspian Sea,

and other water reservoirs is growing every year,

which makes it possible for rural residents to

diversify their sources of income. In a pandemic,

Kazakhstanis preferred to rest at home. Moreover, the

entrepreneurs were well prepared for the beach

season, observed all the prescribed sanitary norms

and rules, and offered catering and accommodation

services in facilities of various comfort levels.

The services of pantotherapy, treatment with

honey products are in constant demand in the East

Kazakhstan region, bordering the Altai Territory of

the Russian Federation, ecological and ethnographic

types of tourism are being developed.

Meanwhile, Kazakhstan adopted state programs

of the development of the tourism industry for 2019-

2025, the development of the agro-industrial complex

for 2017-2021, which will enhance the development

of rural areas, create new job sites, diversify the

agricultural economy, reduce migration flows from

the village to the city, improve the well-being of the

rural population (State Program.2019-2025; State

Program 2017-2021).

The state program should be considered as an

important strategic planning document, in which,

based on an analysis of the current situation, problems

are identified, goals and tasks, measures of state

support are formulated, priorities and directions are

justified, bodies, responsible for the development and

implementation, sources and amounts of funding are

established.

But the remoteness of rural settlements from

cities, insufficiently high quality of the Internet, weak

marketing and advertising campaigns, and a shortage

of qualified personnel slow down the process of the

implementation of the set goals and tasks.

Employment of the Rural Population: The Basis for Sustainable Development of the Regions of Kazakhstan

341

Thus, when characterizing the labor force by the

level of education in urban and rural areas, significant

differences are observed. If the national average share

of people with higher education in 2019 was 37.36%,

then the value of this indicator among the rural

population is 1.9 times lower, than among the urban

population. On the contrary, among the rural

population the share of the labor force with a

secondary general education is 4.3 times higher than

among the urban population. Thus, it can be

concluded, that there is a shortage of highly qualified

personnel among the rural population.

Table 2: Allocation of Kazakhstan's labor force by education level in 2019, in percentage.

Education level All population Urban population Rural population

Labor force - total 100.0 100.0 100.0

Including:

Higher 37.36 46.48 24.53

Incomplete higher 1.33 1.62 0.92

Secondary professional (vocational) 42.19 41.75 42.82

Basic vocational 4.50 3.96 5.26

Secondary general 13.68 5.78 24.79

Basic general 0.88 0.37 1.59

Primary general 0.06 0.04 0.09

Note: calculated on the basis of data from the source (Employment in Kazakhstan, 2020)

There is a close relation between education level

and employment. With an increase in the education

level, the share of the employed population is

increased and the share of economically inactive

persons is decreased (Agranovich, 2019). The

education level of a person gives him certain

competitive advantages.

As a result of the research, it was revealed, that

the education level among the urban population is

higher than among the rural population. This fact can

be explained by the lag of the village behind the city

in terms of the development of intellectual abilities,

cultural and social living conditions, the level of

mechanization, and automation of labor.

To deepen scientific research in order to identify

the relation between the level of education and

employment of the rural population, the following

groups were distinguished by the education level:

Group I - primary general education; Group II - basic

general education; Group III - secondary general

education; Group IV - Basic vocational education;

Group V - secondary professional (vocational)

education; Group VI - incomplete higher education;

Group VII - higher education.

Table 3: Relation between education level and employment of the rural population of Kazakhstan, 2019.

Groups by the education level I II III IV V VI VII

Labor force, thousand

le 3.5 60.9 949.6 201.5 1640.2 35.3 939.7

Unemployed population,

thousand people

0.4 4.0 50.5 9.1 74.5 2.2 41.1

ulation, thousand

le 3.1 56.9 899.2 192.4 1565.7 33.0 898.5

Allocation of the employed population by education

groups, %

0.09 1.56 24.64 5.27 42.91 0.91 24.62

Allocation of the unemployed population by education

rou

s, %

0.22 2.20 27.78 5.00 40.98 1.21 22.61

The ratio of the employed to the labor

force, %

88.57 93.43 94.69 95.48 95.46 93.48 95.62

Note: calculated on the basis of data from the source (Employment in Kazakhstan, 2020)

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342

As the data in Table 3 show, 42.91% of the

employed rural population have secondary

professional (vocational) education; 24.64% -

secondary general education; 24.62% - higher

education. Among the unemployed population, the

largest share of 40.98% falls on the group of persons

with secondary professional (vocational) education,

on the group of persons with secondary general

education - 27.78%; on the group of persons with

higher education - 22.61%; on the group of persons

with basic vocational education - 5.0%.

In terms of the level of employment, calculated as

the ratio of the number of employed to the number of

labor force for each education group, there is an

interrelation between the education level and the

employment level. The highest value of the indicator,

95.62%, is observed in the group with higher

education, the smallest, 88.57%, in the group with

primary general education.

Since digital technologies and artificial

intelligence are actively used in fields and farms,

“smart greenhouses” have appeared, resource-saving

technologies are being introduced, and labor

requirements in rural areas have been increased

sharply. On the other hand, thanks to innovative

technologies, it is possible to ensure a breakthrough,

economic growth and an increase in labor

productivity in agricultural enterprises, and, as a

consequence, an improvement in the quality of life of

the population.

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Innovative technologies will allow to solve the

problems of the village, that have accumulated over

the years, in the shortest possible time. The nature of

labor will change, from hard, predominantly hand, it

will become automated, mechanized. Due to a

decrease in labor intensity, an increase in

profitability, the agricultural sector will turn into a

more attractive object for investment.

Natural and climatic conditions, availability of

agricultural land, traditions and customs of the

people, historically established specialization and

division of labor give grounds to consider agriculture

as a driver of sustainable development of the country.

Currently, the rural population of the country has

realized, that it is economically profitable to run an

agribusiness. Food is vital goods for every person. In

a pandemic, restrictive measures were not imposed on

the activities of agricultural enterprises. On the

contrary, food demand and prices have risen.

If we take into account the potential for

diversification of the agricultural economy, then there

are free-market niches, which, with proper business

management, can bring a sizeable income.

5 CONCLUSIONS

In connection with the digitalization of the economy,

representatives of agricultural professions are in

demand in the labor market, but who already have

additional competencies in the field of computer

literacy, processing large amounts of statistical data,

robotics, innovative equipment, and products.

And from this we can conclude, that the

employment of the rural population in the future will

be influenced by professional aptitude,

competitiveness, innovativeness, knowing digital

technologies. Therefore, currently the most important

task is to bring the labor demand and labor supply in

compliance, to increase the competitiveness of the

domestic labor force, to prepare them for functioning

in a new technological order.

Diversification of the economy, development of

alternative forms of employment will create

additional job sites, improve the quality of life of the

population in rural areas, reduce unemployment,

ensure the preservation and development of rural

areas.

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