Why do we need a more locally focused rural employment policy in the EU

In practice the EU suggestions are translated mechanically to national and regional policies, in many instances, without taking into account the real interests and needs of the inhabitants at different regional levels. This way the capitalization of EU policies and funds is not as efficient as it should be since the endogen potentials of localities are not utilized properly. Our hypothesis is that the rural areas of the EU are so diverse that the significant differences in employment, economic, social, educational and infrastructural features of rural regions necessitates a more locally focused policy which could be supported by analyse statistical data. The analysis is based on the Eurostat General and Regional database and on national statistical databases. What are the reasons that one size fits all solutions has to be avoided and has to be changed with locally adapted policies? Probably this question can be answered partly by the facts of statistical data with which the differences, in some cases extremely huge alterations amongst territorial features, can be demonstrated. Differences based on ruralty are a common topic of rural policies and rural science in EU countries however the differences in rural features of different countries may be notably important. Analysing the employment-unemployment indicators and those indicators that closely related to employment we found that in many instances the major differences are between the post-socialist new member states (NMS) and the EU 15 countries

Az ukrajnai munkavállalók munkavállalási jellemzői Magyarországon

A szomszédos országok közötti munkaerő-áramlás lehetőségei egyre fontosabb kérdéssé válnak Magyarország keleti határainak mentén, a régóta rendkívül rossz foglalkoztatási helyzet, a kevés álláshely miatt az itt élők félnek leginkább a konkurenciától. Az ukrajnai állampolgárok létszáma alapvetően két régióra koncentrálódik, az Észak-Alföld régióra és a Közép-Magyarország régióra. Kutatásunk célkitűzése, hogy pontos képet kapjunk a Magyarországon lévő ukrajnai állampolgárok foglalkoztatási sajátosságairól. Az ukrajnai munkavállalók fontosabb jellemzői: döntő többségük férfi, középkorú, alapvetően elégedettek a fizetéssel, a kedvezőbb kereseti lehetőség a legfőbb vonzerő számukra, szerény igényeket támasztanak a munkával, illetve a munkaadójukkal szemben, többségük nem kíván letelepedni Magyarországon. Megállapítottuk, hogy Ukrajnából döntően magyar ajkú munkavállalók érkeztek, így a magyar igazolványok hatáskörének bővítésével, egyszerűsített ügyintézés bevezetésével könnyebbé válna a hivatalos munkavállalás. Ez a javaslatunk azóta messzemenően teljesült a magyar nemzetiségű, de nem magyar állampolgárok részére lehetővé tett magyar állampolgárság gyors megszerzésének lehetőségével. Sok esetben azért kezdeményezték a letelepedést a munkavállalók – és fektettek be súlyos összegű pénzeket a letelepedés folyamatába –, mert azáltal kedvezőbb helyzetbe kerültek, és ugyanolyan feltételekkel dolgozhattak, mint magyarországi kollégáik. ------------------------------------------------------ Migration between Hungary and neighbouring countries has become increasingly important, mainly in the border regions because the citizens of these regions suffer from long-term unemployment, and they are afraid of foreign competition. In Hungary, Ukrainian workers are concentrated mainly in two areas: the North Great Plain region and the Central region. The aim of our research is to have a clear picture about the employment characteristics of the Ukrainian working people in Hungary. The most important characteristics of Ukrainian employees in Hungary are: the majority is middle aged men satisfied with their income, the main reason for them to work in Hungary is the higher earnings, their expectations toward their employer and workplace are moderate, and the most of them do not intend to settle down in Hungary. We found that, overwhelmingly, workers who could speak Hungarian had arrived from Ukraine and therefore the expansion of the scope of Register of Certificate of Hungarian Nationality and uncomplicated administration should have helped them to find jobs in Hungary. Due to the changes in the policies toward people of Hungarian nationality living abroad our suggestions have become reality as people living in foreign countries with Hungarian nationality can obtain Hungarian citizenship via a simple and quick process. At the time of the research, people of Hungarian nationality from Ukraine applied for Hungarian citizenship in order to attain a similar position in the Hungarian labour market as their fellows, the Hungarian citizens

NEW SOURCES OF EMPLOYMENT TO PROMOTE THE WEALTH-GENERATING CAPACITY OF RURAL COMMUNITIES

New Sources of Employment to Promote the Wealth-Generating Capacity of Rural Communities (acronym: RuralJobs) is a collaborative research project partly funded under the European Commission Research and Development 7th Framework Program. The RuralJobs consortium consists of partners drawn from eight European Union (EU) countries (Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Romania, Spain and UK). The project began on February 2008 and finished in October 2010. RuralJobs quantified labour market, demographic and economic trends, and the impact of employment creation measures and policies in seven, representative “reference areas” across the EU, and used the information to demonstrate how rural development measures can be better targeted and how rural development policies should evolve.We identified labour market, demographic and economic trends in rural areas across EU-27 and the potential for new sources of employment outside traditional primary and secondary sector activities, and examined the interaction between different types of rural area (peri-urban, remote, high environmental/amenity value etc.). We identified employment growth areas where rural development programmes can be targeted to increase their contribution to employment creation. Our strategic objectives were the following: review of employment policies and programmes, scenarios for new sources of employment according to rural typologies, recommendations for better targeting of strategies, dissemination and mainstreaming. The main outcome expected is that the results will allow a better targeting of rural development measures and future evolution of rural development policies in line with the Lisbon Strategy

Integration of logistics function and business performance

Purpose: The degree of integration amongst business functions in enterprises and through the supply chain can greatly affect performance. Integration, with a focus on logistic functions, is investigated to discover the internal and external integration connections at production enterprises so as to measure the association between the level of integration and performance. Design/Methodology/Approach: Internal factors of the analysis are logistics, procurement, sales, accounting and finance, and HR while external elements are suppliers and external customers. ROS, ROE and ROA were used as the indicators of performance. Based on questionnaire data, rank correlation analysis, factor analysis, regression analysis and structural equation modelling were applied. Findings: The research shows that the relationship between the level of integration and performance resulted in some cases in a significant correlation, although there were many instances where there was no positive association between integration and performance. The limitations of the research are the relatively small sample size and geographic scope. Practical Implications: Our research contributes to the scientific understanding of the integration of logistic functions, using four analytical methods. Research shows professionals how important the integration of logistic functions is, which works effectively to improve productivity. Originality/Value: The novelty of the research is to determine functions that can work efficiently with logistics to improve productivity. At the same time, the relatively small ratio of significantly correlated logistic integration factors with business performance signals to us that the integration-performance relationship makes it difficult to use the results in managerial practice.peer-reviewe