The impact of the pandemic crisis on employment in the context of urbanization

Abstract

The level of economic and social development of a country is closely linked to the degree of urbanization. Continuous urbanization will bring new opportunities for and challenges to sustainable development, which is closely correlated with the general level of economic and social development. Thus, the global urbanization trend has been accompanied by changes in employment, representing both a goal and a means of sustainable development at the level of all the branches of national economies. A major test for all the countries was the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which severely impacted the labor market in Europe and beyond. This research aims to produce an overview on the employment situation in urban and rural areas for 31 countries in Europe, as well as on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on employment for the analyzed countries. Although cities are development centers for their countries in terms of economics and quality of life, there is also a need to improve the living conditions of rural residents and increase the attractiveness for all population segments, in order to reduce the rural-urban imbalance in terms of employment opportunities.

An analysis of the absorption rate of EU funded social projects at macro-regional level

“…Although Constanta County is the most economically developed county in the South-East Region, both decision-makers and investors face the challenge of balancing the benefits of economic growth against the mitigation of the pressure on the environment (Vintilă et al, 2017;Stan et al, 2021a;Stan et al, 2021b). Moreover, there are vulnerable social groups and marginalized communities in the county in need of social projects to alleviate problems and reduce the rural-urban imbalance in terms of employment opportunities (Stan, 2022).…”

The influence of the real estate market on the economic development of Constanța County

“…Recent studies have shown that there is a direct relationship between turnover and real estate market's labor force (Cain, Springer and Worzala, 2020), the real estate expansion increasing labor demand and alleviating unemployment (Gong et al, 2022), however, turnover depends on the market (Stan, 2021b). The quantity of labor force is determined by the economic opportunities found in urban and rural areas (Stan, 2022a), but also by economic agents whose role is to invest in human capital, in relation to production and economic growth (Wijaya et al, 2021).…”