Qualitative characteristics of labor potential of successful parents: social portrait and position in the labor market

Nowadays, as modern life becomes increasingly complex and fast-paced, a person is expected to possess a wider range of qualities to successfully perform basic social functions. The key spheres of human life are work and family. Whether work-family balance is achievable or has to be sacrificed is of interest to researchers from different countries and academic fields. Combining employment and parental functions requires the development of relevant strategies, especially in cases of parents achieving success in the profession, including running their own business or active civic participation in the life of a company, territory, country, etc. The impact of parenthood on success, including professional success, is mixed. In this regard, it is relevant to study the qualitative characteristics of the labor potential of parents who consider themselves successful people, as well as to determine their socio-demographic characteristics, socio-cultural attitudes and position in the labor market. These aspects determined the purpose of the conducted scientific search. The information base of the study is the monitoring of the quality of labor potential of the population, carried out by Vologda Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the Vologda Oblast since 1997 (we use data for 2022). The object of the study is working residents of the oblast who are parents at the time of the survey and subjectively consider themselves successful people. We consider the general and stable characteristics of the portrayed group, which represent the novelty of the study. These include optimism in relation to their professional prospects, correspondence of the work to abilities and aptitudes, professional vocation and more pronounced correspondence of the work performed to the professional education received, as well as more pronounced adherence to moral and ethical attitudes of the society in comparison with the population of the oblast. We find that in the group of “successful parents” in equal shares are represented men and women mostly middle-aged (42 years), officially married, with two children, 18% - with three children or more, identifying themselves with people of average income. People with higher and secondary vocational education are equally represented, which reflects the structure of the oblast’s employed population by education. The results of the study can be useful in the development offamily policy programs in the oblast, as well as in educational projects on family education.