The unemployment and the first labour exchanges in cities of the Ural at the beginning of the ХХ century

Introduction. The article explains the relevance of the study of labor exchanges in the context of the social and economic life of the Russian provincial city on the eve and in the conditions of revolutionary changes, that is emphasized in historiography. The research focuses on the peculiarities of the state's social policy and the phenomenon of unemployment in the Russian city at the beginning of the ХХ century. The aim of the study is to analyze the phenomenon of mass unemployment and measures of its possible overcoming in this difficult historical period for Russia on the materials of the large industrial Ural region. Methods. The author uses the traditional institutional approach to the study of economic history, that involves the use of methods of system analysis, special methods of historical research, taking into account the principle of historicism and the specifics of the revolutionary process in Russia in the early twentieth century. Results. Based on historiographic works, periodicals and archival documents, the first historical experience of rendering labor aid in the Russian province (on the example of the cities of the Urals) is analyzed. The dynamics of unemployment and ways to overcome it are shown, some historical continuity in the social policy of the state is established in the pre-Soviet and Soviet historical periods. It is obvious that mass unemployment was one of the factors of social tension in the society. Discussion. The study allows to engage in a discussion about the organizational and legal nature of labor exchanges. The author gives examples of public initiatives in the opening of the first labor exchanges in the Urals, noting the further tendency of strengthening their incorporation into the state structure. conclusion. The author concludes that in Soviet historiography for a long time the importance of pre-revolutionary (created in the pre-October period) labor exchanges was belittled, whereas their reorganization in the Soviet period actually indicates the relevance of historical experience in solving social questions. It is significant that the legislative basis for the institutionalization of labor exchanges appeared only in the historical (crisis) period for the country. Labor exchanges contributed to the reduction of unemployment in the Urals and facilitated the settlement of labor relations.