Rural Human Capital In Romania – Evolutions In Transition

At present, the focus of attention in the specialty literature as well as in the public policies is primarily on the human capital, whose decisive role in economic growth and labour employment is fully recognized. It is unanimously recognized that the knowledge, skills and abilities of the human capital, acquired through education, professional training and experience decisively conditions the economic development and welfare. The objective of the present analytical approach is the rural human capital diagnosis in Romania from the perspective of reaching the objectives of Strategy 2020 of the European Union, whose main desideratum is to transform the European economic area into the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world. The analysis made on the basis of long statistical data series on the demo-educational phenomena and processes signals out certain fundamental problems of the human capital: demographic ageing, deficient labour force renewal, decrease of young people’s interest in education, etc., which adversely impact the implementation opportunities of a knowledge-based development strategy. Furthermore, the inter-regional disparities with regard to the human capital characteristics impose modelling certain differentiated strategies, adapted to the present context.