Scale of commuting in Russian regions

The problem of labor market imbalance is partially solved with the help of fl exible forms of employment and also internal commuting. Growing transport connectivity of settlements, unevenness of the labor market in different municipal entities and increasing difference in the welfare levels of the population make commuting an increasingly widespread phenomenon. The article examines the phenomenon of commuting, which is defi ned as return short-term regular labor migration. It is characterized by a number of mandatory and optional criteria and features. Mandatory criteria include frequency, normativity and territory, while optional criteria include distance, stability, forcedness and mobility. Due to the All-Russian Population Census conducted in 2021, it became possible to estimate the share of commuting not only for Russia as a whole, but also for each region separately. The article presents a grouping of Russian regions by the share of working population in commuting, by the share of urban and rural population participation in this process, by the direction of movements and by their periodicity. The fl ow of commuting migrants mainly consists of representatives of the rural population, who make labor trips daily. In general, commuting in Russia is mainly movements within the region of one’s residence, but in some regions the situation differs from the all-Russian trends. Estimates of the scale of pendular labor migration according to the All-Russian Population Census differ from the estimates obtained by Rosstat using cellular data and from the estimates of the sample labor force survey. The results of the study can be useful for researchers, public authorities of the constituent entities of the RF and local governments in implementing projects and improving policies in the fi eld of labor, migration, socio-economic and spatial development of territories.