RURAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP - AS AN ALTERNATIVE FOR EMPLOYMENT

Abstract

In rural areas, the paid employment opportunities are quite rare. So, the majority of the population is involved in subsistence agriculture and in taking care of their own household, a fact which is far from the mechanisms of the market economy. The theory behind the present article is that entrepreneurship might prove to be a form of social innovation for the rural area, a solution to the problems linked to labor for the categories that find it difficult to re(insert) in the labor market. The difficulties and the opportunities to initiate a business in the rural environment will be pinpointed from the perspective of the direct social actors present on the labor market: the entrepreneurs, the unemployed, the stay-at-home people, the people in charge with the subsistence agriculture. The present study is part of a more complex research project, funded by the European Union. It was aimed at increasing the socio-professional re(insertion) opportunities by developing professional and entrepreneurial skills for multiple vulnerable professional categories coming from the rural environment of Braila County, Romania.