Ensuring youth employment through the activities of small communities in Ukraine

Problem setting. The article examines the possibilities of providing employment for young people through the activities of public communities. An environment that will allow young people to develop themselves in the communities where they were born, live and plan to stay.Recent research and publications analysis. Youth employment is very closely linked to the general employment situation. However, it has its own dimensions and problems that require specific measures. Domestic scholars, for instance, Yu. Palahniuk, O. Shtym, G. Koval, Y. Makogon paid considerable attention to the European experience of youth employment policy, and G. Koval, M. Karpulenko, Y. Hetmanenko studied the state youth policy in general. Highlighting previously unsettled parts of the general problem. The article analyzes the typical challenges of youth employment: unemployment, going abroad; an insufficient level of qualification and opportunities to involve young people through the cooperation of educational institutions and opportunities to involve young people in cooperation of educational institutions; non-formal education; participation in local community self-government. As a result of the research, it is proposed to develop an effective state youth policy in ensuring youth employment in small communities through the development of youth entrepreneurship; activation of youth and involvement in community activities, inclusion of youth in councils and committees. Therefore, the object of study is youth employment through the activities of young communities in Ukraine. Paper main body. In Ukraine, youth unemployment is associated primarily with underdevelopment and economic growth, trends in the international economy’s globalization. It is migration processes that strongly influence the situation on the world labor market because, during the growth of cross-border movements, more and more young people leave their homes in the hope of finding work, which leads to migration from rural areas to cities or other countries. This will have an impact on labor markets in their countries as well as abroad. The International Labor Organization estimates that about 85,3 million young women and men were unemployed worldwide in 2020, or 44 per cent of the world’s unemployed. Many more young people try to earn a living in the informal economy and often end up as unemployed, unskilled young people. To replace older ones, they hire even younger children for lower pay, thus greatly reducing the chances of providing education for both. It is estimated that 59 million young people between the ages of 15 and 17 are employed in unsafe jobs.Unemployment is one of the problems of young people in small communities of Ukraine, as 73% of young people do not see opportunities for even temporary employment due to lack of supply in the market, and 27% due to housekeeping.Traditionally, the lower unemployment rate in rural areas is due to participation in housekeeping. However, this positive fact about the lower unemployment rate among rural youth is reduced by a longer unemployment period. According to the research, the experience of youth unemployment is more devastating for them than for their parents because parents have fewer economic means to support their children. Accordingly, the development of youth in the community is impossible without creating employment conditions.An important factor is to acquaint young people with the trends and directions of development of the whole territorial community and even better involve them in the planning process, allowing them to assess the threats and challenges to the development of small communities. Accordingly, contributing to education and informing about medium-term prospects and available vacancies are practical things that can already make youth unemployment low.The article describes the main provisions of the youth program “DOBRE”, which operates in Ukraine. This program offers its own 4-level system of youth involvement: “Hear youth”, “Develop youth”, “Strengthen youth”, “Support youth”. Addressing the lack of support and activity of young people in small communities is done by creating the opportunities they need for young people, namely creating enough jobs, developing opportunities, decent pay, and creating a sense that young people are included in community life. Also, the priorities are adhered to and supported by the community.Conclusions of the research and prospects for further studies. To solve the problem of youth employment, it is necessary to form state guarantees aimed at stimulating self-employment and entrepreneurial activity of young people; improving the legal framework in the context of preferential taxation of enterprises that hire young workers; active control and monitoring of labor market and educational services indicators to timely adjust and take the necessary measures, as well as to implement a preventive policy of youth employment. An important area of problem-solving is forming a mechanism for effective interaction between government, business and education, which determines the coordination of efforts and joint activities aimed at improving the situation on the labor market and providing young people with jobs. The state’s policy in the field of youth employment needs to be improved, taking into account the current state of the labor market, new trends in social and labor relations through the introduction of best foreign experience and its adaptation to domestic realities.