Assessment of the state of the labor market in the regions of the Black Earth region

The strengthening of sanctions restrictions on the country’s economy actualizes the build-up of domestic production and scientific potential, and therefore the formation of a personnel reserve is also among the priorities. The deterioration of the general economic situation contributed to an acceleration of inflation in the economy and, consequently, a decrease in real incomes of the population. The low average wage remains one of the significant problems for the Russian labor market, while one of the features is the differentiation of the average wage level by region, which actualizes the importance of interregional comparison. The study evaluates the state of the labor market in the regions of the Black Earth region in 2021-2023, identifies current trends and their causes. It is established that a noticeable differentiation remains within the economic region due to the size of the economies of the regions. The Voronezh Region, which remains the center of the district, is the leader in terms of the number of workers, employed and unemployed in the Chernozem region. In terms of employment in 2023, the Belgorod and Voronezh regions were the leaders - 63.7%, and the Kursk region had the lowest employment rate in the Black-Earth region - 59.9%. The level of average wages in all regions of the Black-Earth region, with the exception of the Tambov region, in 2023 was at almost the same level, varying between 52.7-54.2 thousand rubles. In general, it can be noted that all the regions of the Black-Earth region, except for the Tambov region, show similar trends and the state of the labor market, taking into account the size of their own economies.