Analysis of Factors Affecting on Tendency of the Rural Youth of Ilam for Employment in Agricultural Sectors

The purpose of this study was to investigate tendency of the rural youth toward agricultural employment، so by prediction of their behavior of selection or non-selection of this job as a career، realistic planning can be carried out in the fields of agriculture and rural development and rural youth employment programs. This is an applied، causal-relative research type and its methodology was survey type. The statistical population of this study were all the rural youth aged between 15 to 24 years old who are living in rural areas in Ilam city (N =3562) from which using Cochran formula for sample volume determination and random sampling، a sample with probability proportionate to the size of 350 individuals was selected. To collect data from this statistical sample، closed questions questionnaire was used. To determine the content (faced) validity of the instrument، reviewed by apanel of experts. Also، to determine the questionnaire reliability، Cronbach''s alpha coefficient was calculated in frame of pilot study with 30 individual rural youth in Iyvan township which was acceptable for the present study (α = 0. 84). The results of this study showed that the overall tendencies of the rural youth are moderate. Also، based on regression analysis، the most important variables affecting on the rural youth tendencies toward employment in agricultural careers (dependent variable) are respectively as follows: their knowledge of agricultural occupation، family income from agricultural production، the level of government support for the rural youth employment in agricultural section. In total، these variables could explain 66. 5% of dependent variance of the study