Assessment of labor force in the Russian North as a key factor in economic development

Currently, the Russian North and the Arctic are recognized as key areas for the future of the country at the state level. Thus, the main problem of economic development and development of the North is to attract and retain the workforce and its expanded reproduction. The aim of the article is to assess the workforce of the Russian North by identifying its basic characteristics, determining the key factors causing the condition and dynamics of the labor force. Spatial boundaries of the study are the Far North and equivalent areas of Russia. The empirical basis of the research is formed on the basis of statistical data officially published by the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation. The main methods used are of correlations-translation-regression and cluster analysis, analytical categories, of horizontal and vertical analysis of economic indicators. The study revealed that the workforce is reduced in the Russian North, while in Russia as a whole it is increased. Economic growth in the Russian North is accompanied by a decrease in the number of employees. Migration outflow from the North accelerates with time. The level of wages in the North largely lost the ability to attract and retain workers. The amount of labor force in different regions of the North does not depend on the average wage in the territory and on labor productivity. This suggests that the level of economic development itself does not cause the significant workforce in the northern regions. The migration component of labor reproduction manifests itself in different areas in different ways, but the loss of manpower due to migration is comparable in all regions. Migration outflow of labor is independent of the average wage; higher wages are not able to keep the population in the northern territories. In the more prosperous regions with high wages, the problem of quantitative reproduction of labor force is solved by the temporary migration component when departing employees are replaced by new ones. This allows not only to stabilize the workforce, but also to increase it. In the regions with the worst economic opportunities, migration inflow of labor is low, which leads to the narrowing of quantitative reproduction. Labor force in the Russian North is characterized by a worse level of physical performance capacity to work and ability to law-abiding, ethical behavior compared to the national level. In terms of professional abilities, the picture differs substantially from region to region. There is no statistically significant dependence between different levels of manpower quality in the Russian North. The total and per capita output, the average salary have almost no effect on the level of professional training, incidence, the level of labor conflicts and crime.

Keywords

Authors

References