"Śląsk Opolski jest regionem dotkniętym kryzysem demografi cznym i społecznym, który – według prognoz – będzie narastał do 2035 r. Świadczy o tym proces wyludniania się regionu, masowe migracje zagraniczne wyższe od przyrostu naturalnego, niska aktywność zawodowa, wysokie bezrobocie, słabnący kapitał ludzki i społeczny oraz głębokie zaburzenia w ruchu naturalnym. Badania demografi czne i społeczne wskazują na potrzebę prowadzenia aktywnej regionalnej polityki społecznej. Koncepcja Specjalnej Strefy Demografi cznej na Śląsku Opolskim jest spójnym, kompleksowym i nowatorskim projektem aktywnej polityki w bardzo złożonej i niewystępującej w innych obszarach kraju sytuacji."
EN
The paper discusses the demographical problems and regional social policy responses in the Opole voivodship. It is a region of still increasing demographical and social crisis, which is estimated to last until 2035. It is marked by the process of depopulation, the international migration much higher than the population growth, low professional activity, high unemployment level, and a very weak human and social resources level. As a result of the diagnosed problems the need for implementing an active regional social policy was set as the political objective in the region. The idea of Special Demographical Zone in Opole voivodship is a coherent, complex and new project of active policy in this very compound and unique situation which does not exist in other parts of the country.
Economic and social development of the region, from which the level and quality of life of its inhabitants depends, determines the number of factors. Human capital plays increasingly important role among them. It is complex concept. Its major components include demographic - social characteristics of human resources available to the region. Presentation of changes in volume and demographic structures in the area of major importance on the map of the country and specificity as Silesia, when some of them weaken and other strengthen human capital, has a crucial importance for the development of regional policy of socio-economic constituent voivodships.
Abstract: Groups particularly in risk of social exclusion - a demographic aspect The paper deals with groups that are in particular danger of social exclusion (about 30% of the country’s population): structural (incomes below the poverty level, unemployment, homelessness), physical (disability, chronic disease), normative (related to breaking the law, social pathology). In the light of the demographic-statistical research in Opole Region, it is possible to distinguish seven groups especially endangered with social exclusion. Special attention should be paid to wage-earning emigrants and their children with weakened family and social bonds (“Euro-orphans”) in connection with the increase in migration processes in the Region. A decisive factor limiting the problem of availability of work and the danger of social exclusion is an economic boom in the region. Key words: risk of social exclusion, wage-earnig emigrants, migration processes, availability of work economic boom
It is obvious that life learning makes one of the basic factors of regional development, secures improvement of the quality of human capital in the region, bettering of the situation on the job market, results in a decrease in the unemployment rate and stopping of the 'fleeing' human capital, as well as improves the position of Opole Region on the national level, in comparison with other regions in the country. In the light of new legal regulations which restrict the aid on the side of employers extended to employees pursuing education and in the situation of the present 'economic crisis', mere 'training to do work', which is a frequent practice today, will expand, limiting the possibilities of employees' participation in formal structures of external life learning. In their verbal declarations, entrepreneurs acknowledge the significance of permanent education, still the activities they undertake within this sphere are of a rather limited character. In Opole Region, there occur additional limitations relating to the demographic and economic development of the region. Nevertheless, these negative trends must be counteracted in a decisive way. Participation in formalized forms of life learning does not exhaust human activity in this respect. Self-education cannot be ignored as an individual activity that makes it possible to acquire plenty of vital professional competences. It is more and more often postulated today to facilitate certification and formal confirmation of the acquired skills.
The article is devoted to the role of human factor in social development of the region. The human factor has a special meaning for the Nadodrze, because of the uniqueness and distinctiveness of the series of population processes taking place in this area in the years 1946-2035, as well as changing at this time spatial arrangement of Nadodrze voivodships. The particular importance in the construction of social objectives in strategies development (ammendment) for individual regions should have their demographic profiles so the empirical picture of the social situation appropriately enhanced could become the basis for diagnosis, without which the process of economic and social changes can not be properly defined.
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