The relevance of agriculture in formal employment dropped in many European, Central and East Asian countries over the previous decades. The mutually reinforcing and interdependent processes of non-agricultural sector development and urbanization have resulted in new dynamics and diversity in rural labour landscape. Remittances as the link between urban and international migrants and their original households have gained importance in sustaining rural livelihoods, especially in poorer countries and regions. Yet, in a number of countries agricultural activities still fulfil important safety net functions. However, a potential lack of qualified agricultural labour and increasing wages, as observed in some places, will constrain future prospects of the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. These phenomena are not fully understood in terms of their functioning and poverty and sustainability outcomes.The IAMO Forum 2016 places the interlinkages between people’s mobility across localities, countries, sectors and types of employment as well as local economic development in the focus. The drivers and consequences will be debated from a social sciences perspective, including economics, political sciences, sociology, anthropology and history. We welcome submissions of papers addressing these aspects with a regional focus on Europe, Central Asia and China.The conference is jointly organized with the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).