<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Despite strong secular economic growth after the crisis of 1990-93, most of rural Finland has continued to face severe job losses. By applying small-area analysis, this paper seeks to explain why some rural areas inevitably experience declining employment while others prosper and grow even faster than urban areas. The variation of job creation in rural small areas derives from local economic conditions, local demographic structure, proximity to larger centers, and natural conditions. Contrary to expectations, the coldest areas with nature reserves have passed the worst job loss. Those areas had a lower burden of declining primary industries than traditional agro-forest areas, and because of tourism, industry has expanded in some places in Lapland. The dependence of an area on the primary sector is a good indicator of the highest rural job losses during the urban-centric economic growth period. Especially the most resource dependent areas have lagged behind and fail in job creation on account of their uncompetitive industrial environment. Persistent labor surplus plagues such areas, implying that established policy measures have been unable to restructure and modernize traditional rural areas. Since Finnish rural and regional policies have been being inefficient they should be reformed especially in resource-based areas in a fundamental way.</p></abstract>

Despite strong secular economic growth after the crisis of 1990-93, most of rural Finland has continued to face severe job losses. By applying small-area analysis, this paper seeks to explain why some rural areas inevitably experience declining employment while others prosper and grow even faster than urban areas. The variation of job creation in rural small areas derives from local economic conditions, local demographic structure, proximity to larger centers, and natural conditions. Contrary to expectations, the coldest areas with nature reserves have passed the worst job loss. Those areas had a lower burden of declining primary industries than traditional agro-forest areas, and because of tourism, industry has expanded in some places in Lapland. The dependence of an area on the primary sector is a good indicator of the highest rural job losses during the urban-centric economic growth period. Especially the most resource dependent areas have lagged behind and fail in job creation on account of their uncompetitive industrial environment. Persistent labor surplus plagues such areas, implying that established policy measures have been unable to restructure and modernize traditional rural areas. Since Finnish rural and regional policies have been being inefficient they should be reformed especially in resource-based areas in a fundamental way.

Potential Job Creation and Resource Dependance in Rural Finland

Researcher, Department of geographical and historical studies, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, 80100 Joensuu

Professor of rural research, Department of geographical and historical studies, University of Eastern Finland, P.O Box 111, 80100 Joensuu

European Countryside

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Potential Job Creation and Resource Dependance in Rural Finland"}

Despite strong secular economic growth after the crisis of 1990-93, most of rural Finland has continued to face severe job losses. By applying small-area...

Potential Job Creation and Resource Dependance in Rural Finland

Published Online: Sep 19, 2014

Page range: 202 - 224

Received: Sep 22, 2013

Accepted: Mar 14, 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/euco-2014-0011

Keywords
Job creation, resource dependence, rural areas, regional policy, Finland

© by Olli Lehtonen

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Potential Job Creation and Resource Dependance in Rural Finland

Published Online: Sep 19, 2014

Page range: 202 - 224

Received: Sep 22, 2013

Accepted: Mar 14, 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/euco-2014-0011

KeywordsJob creation, resource dependence, rural areas, regional policy, Finland

© by Olli Lehtonen

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Job creation, resource dependence, rural areas, regional policy, Finland