Rural Cooperation and Employment in the Lipetsk Region: Issues of Development and Interrelation
This paper explores consumer cooperation in rural areas of the Lipetsk region. The aim of the study is to determine the influence and relationship of consumer cooperation and the employment of rural labor resources. As the main research method, the author uses the survey method of its varieties: questionnaire - to collect information suitable for statistical and mathematical processing; interviews - to clarify the perceptions, positions, opinions of survey participants on the issues under study, to receive additional comments from rural residents about their attitude to consumer cooperation. An abstract-logical method was used to analyze all the collected information. The result of the work was the determination of the real state in the development of consumer cooperation in the Lipetsk region; dependence of the level of cooperation development on its support by the regional authorities; demand among the rural population for services provided by consumer cooperatives. A significant influence of cooperation on the employment of rural residents was revealed through the organization of permanent and paid new jobs in cooperatives, as well as through full or partial self-employment in a personal subsidiary or peasant farms. The further development of cooperation and the promotion of employment of rural labor resources through it will depend on the degree and conditions of support of consumer cooperatives by the state. The field of application of the results is regional and local government bodies, which may use the materials obtained in the course of the study, as well as the analysis carried out on their basis and the conclusions drawn, to apply when developing a strategy for the socio-economic development of the region, when developing programs to promote employment in rural areas, when determining measures and directions to support rural consumer cooperation.