Impact of COVID-19 quarantine restrictions on labor market and rural employment

The purpose of the article is to assess the impact of restrictive quarantine measures in 2020-2021 related to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic on the rural labor market, the level of employment and the extent of rural poverty. Research methods. The basis for the study were general scientific and economic methods, creative heritage of the classical political economy founders, publications of Ukrainian scientists on the impact of quarantine restrictions related to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, on social and labor relations in rural areas, regulations, data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine and the State Employment Service, Internet resources and other sources. The monographic approach was used in the analysis of the employment rate dynamics of the rural population, changes in the labor market and the scale of poverty caused by the lockdowns introduction in 2020-2021. Normative and positive approaches are used to highlight the labor potential of rural areas and opportunities for its implementation in a pandemic. A number of abstract-logical techniques allowed formulating intermediate and final conclusions and proposals. Економіка АПК, 2021, № 4 65 Research results. The phenomenon of the category "labor" as a process of conscious and purposeful activity on the transformation of natural and economic factors of production in order to meet human needs is considered. The institutional preconditions of spatial differences in the concentration of jobs in rural and urban areas and the deepening of inequality in their development are highlighted. Changes caused by a number of restrictions on economic activity in order to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ukraine are analyzed, in the field of the rural population employment by age groups, employment status, unemployment among working-age people, the number of employees who received unemployment status, as well as the workload per vacancy registered with the State Employment Service, the dynamics of its provision of services to rural residents. Public opinion that in the employment and rural labor market due to non-compliance with quarantine restrictions on economic activity, technological features of agricultural production and lower density, the rural population suffers less from quarantine measures is refuted. As a result of the introduction of two all-Ukrainian lockdowns in 2020–2021, the number of employed rural population decreased by 361 thousand people, or by 7%, of them employed - by 198 thousand and self-employed - by 153 thousand. The unemployment rate for this period also increased by 1.7 percentage points, or 11.5%. In April-May 2021, almost 120,000 workers received the status of unemployed dismissed from agricultural, forestry and fisheries enterprises, or one in five of the total in the economy. In addition, the number of applicants for one vacancy in rural areas has doubled, while reducing the financial capacity of the State Employment Service, especially with regard to the implementation of active forms of employment recovery. An integral consequence of quarantine restrictions was the spread of poverty among the rural population and the further social exclusion of people with unprotected self-employment. Scientific novelty. Methodological approaches to assessing the negative impact of quarantine restrictions related to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural employment, the rural labor market and the well-being of rural households have been further developed. Practical significance. The results of the impact of quarantine restrictions on employment and the rural labor market in 20202021 may be taken into account when developing measures to support micro and small businesses and self-employed agricultural workers in extreme conditions of society, such as a pandemic. Tabl.: 3. Figs.: 5. Refs.: 35.