Living Standards of the Population in the Regions of Russia

Chief Editor’s Column

Editorial Team Journal — 2022-12-22

Structural Demographic Waves of Russian Regions: Preliminary Analysis

Oleg L. Rybakovsky — 2022-12-22

The article shows how political, economic, environmental and other events, phenomena and processes (external factors) lead to sharp changes in the age structure of the population of the regions of Russia, creating structural waves, that is, steep changes in population by age. It is revealed how various components of the demographic balance (internal factors) in dynamics affect the perturbation and smoothing of age-related structural waves. Taking into account the experience of previous studies and on the basis of a large array of empirical data, the use of two generalizing meters of demographic structural waves of the regions of the Russian Federation is justified. The first indicator is the coefficient of unevenness of th7e age structure of the population regarding the structure of the calculated series of "Numbers living in a given age interval". The second indicator is a combination of two coefficients of structural differences (shifts) used in practice, A. Szalai and K. Gatev. The results of a comparative analysis of structural demographic waves in all regions of Russia for the last year before the start of the pandemic in 2019 are reflected. All regions of Russia are ranked according to the proposed coefficients of unevenness. Four main groups of territories have been identified from the regions according to the degree of unevenness of the age structure of the population. The main factors that caused this unevenness are revealed. The task of smoothing the structural demographic waves in the young population (0-45 years old) by building and implementing a time-emphasized and regionally accentuated concept of demographic policy in the field of fertility, interregional and international migration has been substantiated. This concept should be coordinated with the strategy of Russia's demographic development.

Increasing the Scientific Potential in the Russian Regions - the Strategic National Priorities of Russia

Svetlana E. Shipitsyna — 2022-12-22

The article analyzes the theoretical approaches to the concept of "scientific potential", provides an overview of foreign and domestic methodological approaches to assessing the scientific potential of national and regional economies. For a comparative assessment of the scientific potential of a number of Russian regions-analogues, a methodology based on an integrated approach has been formed, which includes elements of leading author's and institutional methods. Five modules of indicators have been identified: material and technical equipment, the level of education of scientific personnel, the volume and structure of scientific research and development, amount of funding, organizational structure of the scientific sphere. The relationship between the socio-economic development of the region and the actual and probabilistic level of the scientific potential of the territory is proved. In addition, it has been proven that the main factors are the level of funding and the quantity and quality of scientific personnel. This approach has been tested in some Russian regions of the Volga Federal District and the Ural Federal District. The center of comparison in the article is the Perm Territory. Regression analysis was applied to predict the development of the scientific potential of the analyzed region. To build a qualitative model, an effective indicator and factors explaining it were chosen: advanced production technologies developed, the number of scientific organizations, the number of scientific personnel, internal costs for research and development, the number of researchers with scientific degrees, the number of university students, the number of patents issued, the average salary researcher, the amount of funding from the federal budget. Regression analysis showed that the developed advanced manufacturing technologies are more affected by changes in the size of internal costs for research and development, as well as the number of researchers with scientific degrees. Thanks to the regression model, it was revealed that active financing of scientific activities in the region contributes to the emergence of highly qualified scientific personnel.

Building a Model Linking the Indicator of the Standard of Living of the Population with a Set of Indicators of Socio-Economic Policy in the Regions of Russia

Vladimir S. Stepanov — 2022-12-22

The work contains a study of one of the components of the quality of life - the standard of living of the population - using the example of an analysis of the regions of the Central Federal District. Using Rosstat data, a list of the most important socio-economic indicators characterizing the standard of living of the population was formed, and then an integral indicator was built on them. This indicator can be used as one of the criteria for the performance of regional authorities. The dependence between the obtained indicator and the lag values of variables characterizing the level of economic policy development is shown: human development, innovative activity, transport infrastructure and a number of others. On this basis, an econometric model is built that has a high statistical quality, since the unbiased estimate of the determination coefficient R2 is 95% and the model approximation error is 5.4%. Estimates of elasticity coefficients of explaining variables in this model make it possible to streamline the degree of influence of the corresponding directions of economic policy on the indicator of the standard of living of the population. The presence of lag explanatory variables allows you to make forecasts of indicator values with a planning horizon of 1-2 years.

Theoretical and Methodological Foundations for the Formation of the Work-Life Balance Indicator

Tatiana O. Razumova — 2022-12-22

In society a stable system of values has been formed. It reflects a set of goals, such as: human preservation, socio-economic well-being and development, the creation and distribution of material goods and services. However, an important non-renewable human resource is time. Its rational and balanced distribution between working and family life becomes particularly relevant in the context of technological changes, the development of new forms of employment and macroeconomic instability.

The article considers theoretical and methodological approaches to measuring the work-life balance indicator in Russia among the employed population with family responsibilities. Systematization of the main theories of work-life balance made it possible to form the author's four-component methodology for measuring the indicator. Based on the data of the survey in a practical part an econometric study is presented. It revealed significant characteristics of individuals that affect the family-work balance.

Significant Indicators of Precarious Employment and Their Priority

Vyacheslav N. Bobkov — 2022-12-23

The article is devoted to the problem of identifying significant indicators of precarious employment and their priority, the solution of which was based on the authors: 1) checking indicators for multicollinearity, for which, based on the processing of data from the Federal State Statistics Service and The Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey - Higher School of Economics (RLMS-HSE), an array of data was generated for the period 2010-2020; 2) checking indicators based on expert assessments of Russian specialists collected in 2022 during a survey specially organized by the authors. Taking into account the integration of the verification results by two methods, the indicators of the initial list proposed by the authors were clarified and verified and the final list of indicators of precarious employment was formed. The final list includes indicators that make it possible to identify objective (taking into account the assessment of the type of registration of employment and employment conditions) and subjective (taking into account the assessment of the presence of instability of the labor situation and dissatisfaction with employment and its conditions) manifestations of precarious employment in relation to Russian conditions. The prioritization of indicators of precarious employment was carried out and three groups of indicators were identified by priority level to characterize its manifestations: with a high (key indicators), medium and below medium priority level. The boundary for the indicator of the level of income from basic employment, which does not ensure the stability of the financial situation of households, has been clarified. It was revealed that precarious employment, regardless of the type of employed households, is identified by income from basic employment, which does not allow per capita income to be brought to the level of standards that form middle and higher material security (3.1 of subsistence minimum and higher).

Informal Employment in Modern Russia: Old Problems and New Realities

Elena S. Kubishin — 2022-12-23

Despite the serious measures taken in the country to reduce informal employment, this area remains a significant segment of the Russian labor market. At the same time, both the terminology used and the quantitative parameters of informal employment remain unclear. In recent years, the problem of informal employment in Russia has become more acute due to the active and noticeably accelerated development of information and communication technologies and the COVID-19 pandemic, the spread of new forms of non-standard employment, such as freelancing, platform employment, self-employment, outstaffing, etc. These forms do not yet have a clear and unambiguous interpretation, but they also have a significant “shadow” component. Currently, large-scale economic sanctions have been added to the existing problems, giving rise to the so-called "sanctions crisis", the impact of which on all segments of the domestic labor market, including its informal part, may be significant and ambiguous. In conclusion, the article draws attention to the need to develop a clear interpretation of the term "informal employment" as well as clear distinction and regulation of the statuses of platform employment, freelancing, and self-employment, also in order to provide the relevant categories of workers with social guarantees. In connection with the problem under consideration, a critical analysis of the proposals developed by the Russian Ministry of Labor and Social Protection for a new law on employment in the Russian Federation has been carried out.

Formation of Barrier-free Urban Environment and Problems of Labor Integration of Disabled People in Russia

Еvgeny V. Еgorov — 2022-12-23

The article examines the economics of a barrier-free environment in the context of the transition from a medical to a social approach to disability after the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006). A social approach to disability means recognizing the equality of the rights of disabled people with healthy citizens in all spheres of society and ensuring accessibility for them of all objects and services in the external, primarily in the urban environment. Disability is understood as the presence of external and internal barriers that impede the social integration of people with disabilities. The formation of a barrier-free urban environment makes it possible to

remove external barriers, and comprehensive rehabilitation and habilitation of the disabled removes internal barriers. Together they ensure accessibility for the disabled of all objects and services of the urban infrastructure. A barrier-free urban environment is a socially significant benefit that has a positive external effect not only for all citizens with limited mobility (LMC), but also for all members of the local community. A comprehensive assessment of the socio-economic effects from the implementation of programs for the formation of a barrier-free urban environment for all stakeholders (disabled people, entrepreneurs, authorities, the local community) is important. In the Russian Federation, this allows overcoming the limited approach to assessing the benefits from their implementation only for people with disabilities and other LMC at high investment costs. It is recommended to use the experience of the EU in the Russian Federation in presenting the annual Access City Award to the three best cities for an accessible environment for the disabled as an effective incentive for them and the regions of the country in the development of a barrier-free environment and tourism. An analysis of the 10 years of implementation of the state program of the Russian Federation "Accessible Environment", along with achievements, made it possible to identify a number of shortcomings: the need to verify quantitative indicators of the accessibility of its priority facilities for people with disabilities using sociological surveys of people with disabilities and experts; low level of accessibility of university buildings for teaching disabled people; non-fulfillment of indicators of growth in employment of persons with disabilities. As a result of a selective sociological survey of people with disabilities and experts conducted by the author in 2022, the reasons for the low level of social and labor integration of people with disabilities were identified: the lack of employers' interest in their employment, the low availability of urban infrastructure, and the discrepancy between the skill level of people with disabilities and modern production requirements. An integrated approach to the formation of an accessible environment in the field of vocational education and employment of disabled people with increased incentives for socially responsible employers is proposed. It is shown that the conduct of a special military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine and new packages of Western sanctions adopted in 2022 against our country require consideration of their socio-economic consequences. In particular, - updating the state program of the Russian Federation "Accessible Environment", taking into account the expected increase in the number of disabled people and the development of import substitution policy in this area.

The Quality of Work, Family and Personal Life During Remote Work: Opinions of Russian Women

Natalia V. Tonkikh — 2022-12-23

The object of the study, the results of which are presented in this article, is the quality of working, family and personal life. The subject of the study is the features of the quality of work, family and personal life of remote female workers who started working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. For women, most of whom have “dual employment” at work and at home, the relevance of assessing the quality of their work, family and personal life while working remotely is growing. The article analyzes the results of the author's survey of women who received their first experience of remote work during the pandemic. The authors come to the conclusion that the transition to a remote format basically did not affect the labor productivity and the level of remuneration of the women surveyed. Significant positive factors include: saving time for transport; the ability to combine work and household chores; the ability to independently plan work time, free schedule; the ability not to adapt to the dress code and corporate rules. Significant negative changes include changes that reduce the quality of working life: the boundaries between work and home are violated, overtime, there is no full disconnection and rest from work; lack of communication with colleagues; interfere, distract children, husband, other relatives; it is difficult to organize a workplace at home and it is difficult to motivate yourself to start working, it is difficult to concentrate. The highest differentiation in the frequency of choosing one answer or another is observed among respondents on the basis of “having children”. In general, such women find significantly fewer disadvantages than women who do not have children, or women whose age of all children is over 14 years old. The remote employment format for women raising young children is more likely to improve the quality of their work, personal and family life than vice versa. The hypothesis that dissatisfaction with remote work would be more common in the older age group was not confirmed.

Using the Potential of Social Media in Profiling and Attributing Precarious Employment of Socio-Demographic Groups in Russia

Igor A. Shichkin — 2022-12-23

In the past three decades have seen the rapid development of Internet and its wide distribution across countries and socio-demographic groups. The use of social media for researches may be really useful, as users of media platforms often post data or enter queries related with their current work or job search. The research presents the results of an analysis of data found in social media and open information resources related to precarious employment in Russia. There was used thesaurus technology in the processing of information which consists of scientific articles and public discussions. Automatic monitoring of news, posts and discussions of precarious employment issue was carried out. Identification of precarious employment actors were carried out using the Big Data processing technology. The gender, age and professional connection of precarious employment actors, as well as their geographical location in Russia, has been revealed. The author evaluates the scale of precarious employment in the context of Russian federal districts.

There are factors, attributes and consequences of labor precarisation in Russia are identified in result of social media data analysis. Sociodemographic, professional and regional profile of a subject with high risks of precarious employment in Russia has been compiled.

Based on the monitoring of references to precarious employment in social networks, blogs and public information resources, its manifestations were systematized in the context of a negative impact on the quality of working life, employment incomes and households’ standard of living.

Person’s Physicality as a Factor of his Socio-Economic Status

Vadim I. Ryazantsev — 2022-12-23

In this article disabled people physicality as a factor of his socio-economic status was analyzed. Article is based on author’s research concluded in 2022. The object of the study is the socio-economic status of a person with a disability, the subject is the impact of the physicality of a person with a disability on his socio-economic status. The main hypothesis of the study is that people with disabilities have a low socio-economic status due to their abnormal physicality. As a based theory we used concept of "abnormal" M. Foucault. Methods used in our research were analysis of statistics, analysis of secondary data from sociological research and the method of semi-formalized expert interviews and interviews with Moscow youth. The analysis of statistics and secondary data from disability research allowed us to determine the socio-economic situation of people with disabilities, and a series of interviews - how the physicality of a person with a disability affects his socio-economic situation. People with disability in modern Russian society has low socio-economic and social status. One of the main reasons for this is unnormal physicality of people with disability. On the basis of non-normative physicality, a certain perception of people with disabilities is formed. Person with disability is percept incapable for a “normal” life, which affects their social position and their socio-economic status. It was found that, despite the declared positive perception of people with disabilities, the informants do not perceive them as equals, but as those who are below the informants in terms of social status.

How Does Industrial Development of the Arctic Contribute to the Conservation of People and Improve the Quality of Life of the Peoples of the North?

Evgenia V. Potravnaya — 2022-12-23

The article discusses approaches to the analysis and measurement of the quality of life of the indigenous peoples of the North, taking into account the implementation of projects for the industrial development of Arctic territories. The relevance of the study is determined both by the high significance of industrial development projects in the Arctic, and the impact of such projects on the quality of life and people's conservation. The analytical base is based on the results of our own sociological research in the settlements of the Arctic zone of the country in the areas of implementation of mining projects. The subject of the study is the economic and social relations that arise between mining companies and the indigenous peoples of the North in the context of the impact of mining projects on the quality of life and people's conservation. The object of the study is the living conditions and development of traditional crafts of indigenous peoples in the zone of implementation of mining projects in the Srednekolymsky and Oleneksky districts of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The hypothesis of the study is to identify the relationship between the implementation of projects for the industrial development of the Arctic and improving the quality of life of the local population through the participation of mining companies in the socio-economic development of the territory. The purpose of the article is to identify and analyze the factors that affect the quality of life of the local population in the regions where projects of mining companies are being implemented. The scientific novelty of the research consists in the development of a methodological approach to the study of the quality of life in the context of the activities of mining companies based on sociological surveys of the population. The formulated recommendations on the support of the indigenous peoples of the North by mining companies can be used to implement social policy in the field of people saving and improving the quality of life of the local population.