ABSTRACT
This chapter summarises the results of the thematic research conducted by the Portuguese PaYPiRD team on Social Networks, Labour Market and Policy Impact in a small rural county (Santa Marta de Penaguiao) in the Douro region of North Eastern Portugal into how social networks help rural school-leavers both to access information about job opportunities and, indeed, to secure employment. The chapter also describes the practical functioning of these mechanisms and, in doing so, tests the validity of a broad conceptual framework that was developed at the beginning of the research (Gerry 1999).
