Trends in Labor Productivity in the Russian Coal Industry (1992-1999)

The object of the research is trends in labor productivity dynamics in the Russian coal industry during the transition to a market economy. The authors draw attention to the fact that in the first years of the reform of the coal industry, labor productivity declined significantly and by this indicator Russia was noticeably inferior to the leading coal-producing countries of the world. The government solved this problem through the privatization of mines and cuts. Since 1994, the course was taken to restructure the coal industry. Despite the high social costs, due to the restructuring, it was possible to significantly reduce the number of inefficient enterprises. For enterprises that continued production and economic activities, other very important areas were envisaged - equipment modernization, staff optimization, social issues, and others. Since 1995, the proportion of budget funds increased. Thanks to international cooperation, new opportunities emerged in the production activities of the latest achievements of world science and technology (above all, the acquisition of high-performance imported mining and mining and transportation equipment), as well as in the organization of labor. Since 1995, positive dynamics of labor productivity were observed in the Russian coal industry. The best indicators were at the enterprises of the Kuznetsk coal basin. The large-scale privatization of mines and opencast mines in 1999 made it possible to markedly increase the growth rate of labor productivity, and as a result, to put the Russian coal industry in the category of internationally competitive ones. According to the authors, at the end of the period under review, the following important problems remained unresolved: (1) the gap in labor productivity between cuts and mines increased; (2) labor productivity in the coal industry of Russia was still about five times lower than abroad; (3) the dynamics of labor productivity growth noticeably lagged (especially in 1999) from the rate of increase in the nominal wages of a coal mining worker; (4) the mechanism of internal innovation renewal of enterprises and technologies (rationalization, invention, promotion of creative activity of workers) was not launched. The final conclusion is the following. There are three stages in the evolution of labor productivity in the coal industry of Russia of the period under review. The first stage is the decline, which was observed from 1992 to 1994. The second is a transition to positive dynamics (19951998). The third is dynamic growth (since 1999). The factor of growth of labor productivity became decisive in the spatial development of the coal industry and led to a change in the geography of coal mining in the country. Production capacity of the coal industry began to move to Eastern Siberia and the Far East of the country.

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