Challenges of rural labor markets

International researchers will meet in Halle (Saale), Germany from 22 – 24 June for the IAMO Forum 2016. At the conference, challenges of rural labor markets within the context of labor mobility in European, Eastern European and Central Asian countries will be discussed.

The effects of structural change on employment in the agricultural sector, the role of migration in labor market adjustments and local development and organization of labor relations in agriculture are among the key topics of the IAMO Forum 2016.

In four plenary sessions, eighteen parallel sessions and a podium discussion, the latest research results will be presented, analysing the interlinkages between people’s mobility across localities, countries, sectors and types of employment as well as local economic development. The drivers and consequences will be debated from a social sciences perspective, including economics, political sciences, sociology, anthropology and history.

The IAMO Forum 2016 will be opened on 22 June with a presentation by Amelie Constant. The Program Director of the research area “Migration” at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) will talk about migration, remittances and ramifications in rural China.

Afterwards Oded Stark will hold a keynote speech. Stark, from the Center for Development Research (ZEF) in Bonn, Germany, is internationally known in migration research among other things as the author of “The Migration of Labor” (1993). He holds professorships at the Universities of Warsaw, Poland, and Tübingen, Germany, and teaches at Georgetown University in Washington, USA.

The second day will begin with a plenary session on “Rural labor markets in transition economies”, which is organized by the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). IZA is co-organizer of the IAMO Forum 2016. Among the speakers is Alexander M. Danzer, Professor of Economics at KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany. He will illustrate the relationships between global commodity prices and poverty development based on the example of the cotton industry in Tajikistan. Corrado Giulietti from Southampton University, UK, will present research results on migration from rural to urban China.

Furthermore, Hartmut Lehmann from the University of Bologna, Italy, will present his thesis on the links between cognitive abilities (such as memory and language) and non-cognitive abilities (such as patience and self-regulation) and labor market performance in rural Ukraine. Furthermore, Norberto Pignatti of the International School of Economics at Tbilisi State University (ISET), Georgia, will give an insight into the situation in Georgia, where structural reforms and labor market reforms have yet to be realized.

The first two scientifically oriented conference days provide a platform for the world's leading scientists to present their latest research results and to identify future trends. Of the many contributions, the organized sessions by Richard Barichello from the University of British Columbia, Canada, on 22 June and by William Meyers of the University of Missouri, USA, on 23 June are two more highlights awaiting the conference participants. In both sessions the role of migration in the local development of Eastern European and Central Asian countries will be discussed.

On the last day of the conference, representatives from politics and business will be present in addition to the scientists. The day will start with keynote speeches by Johannes Koettl, Senior Economist at the World Bank’s Social Protection and Labor Global Practice (GSPDR), and Cheng Fang from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Fang is currently leading the FAO work to develop a knowledge product on the impact of trade on decent rural employment.

The IAMO Forum 2016 will be concluded by a panel discussion about the threats and challenges of rural labor markets. Here various aspects are again exposed, which will have been debated on the previous conference days, to sharpen the eye for future pressing issues. Abel Polese, who teaches at the Dublin City University, Ireland, and the University of Tallin, Latvia, and Taras Vysotskyi, General Director of the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB) will join Koettl and Fang on the podium.

The IAMO Forum 2016 is jointly organized with the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) and sponsored by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Rentenbank – Edmund Rehwinkel Foundation, the Federal German State Saxony-Anhalt and the city of Halle (Saale). Registration for the conference is open until 31 May. You can register here: http://www.iamo.de/forum/2016/registration.

Press accreditation
Media representatives are very welcome at the IAMO Forum 2016. We would be glad to schedule interviews with experts at the conference for you. If you are interested in attending the event free of charge please email the following address by 17 June 2016: presse@iamo.de

IAMO Forum 2016
Rural Labor in Transitions: Structural Change, Migration and Governance
22 – 24 June 2016 | Halle (Saale), Germany
http://www.iamo.de/forum/2016
#iamoForum16

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About IAMO
The Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO) analyzes economic, social and political processes of change in the agricultural and food sector, and in rural areas. The geographic focus covers the enlarging EU, transition regions of Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe, as well as Central and Eastern Asia. IAMO works to enhance the understanding of institutional, structural and technological changes. Moreover, IAMO studies the resulting impacts on the agricultural and food sector as well as the living conditions of rural populations. The outcomes of our work are used to derive and analyze strategies and options for enterprises, agricultural markets and politics. Since its founding in 1994, IAMO has been part of the Leibniz Association, a German community of independent research institutes.

Media Contact at IAMO
Britta Paasche
Public Relations
Tel.: +49 345 2928-329
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presse@iamo.de
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http://www.iamo.de/forum/2016 – IAMO Forum 2016