Employment of young specialists in rural areas of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan: key competencies, employment conditions

The issue of employment of rural youth in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan is relevant and timely, since socio-economic problems of the village have significant impact on development of rural areas and prospects of young rural residents. Young specialists face limited employment opportunities, which complicates their social and economic integration. In particular, lack of jobs with adequate pay and lack of prospects stimulate mass migration from rural areas. The goal is to substantiate systematic approach to solving the problems of providing jobs for young farmers through education reforms, infrastructure modernization and support for entrepreneurship. Among the main barriers to the provision of jobs are discrepancy between educational programs and labor market needs and high dependence of rural economy on agricultural sector, which lead to increase in the share of informal sector of economic activity and increase in the outflow of qualified young personnel to the cities. Methods - quantitative, tracking the dynamics of young people's involvement in the labor force and unemployment of young rural residents in the period from 2010 to 2023, which made it possible to identify key factors; qualitative - thematic analysis of program cases that contribute to deep understanding of socio-economic processes in rural regions; graphical - for a visual representation of the structural transformation of the rural economy. The results demonstrate direct impact of youth migration and mismatch of professional skills on the level of employment. An integration model has been developed, including 11 key elements aimed at creating conditions for labor adaptation of the younger generation. Vocational training programs, development of small and medium businesses, investment in innovative technologies and infrastructure modernization are proposed. The findings emphasize the need for integrated approach, including educational reforms, economic diversification and government support for sustainable development of rural areas of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.