Main trends in the Russian labor market in the current economic conditions

For Russia, the labor market remains one of the problem areas, since the existing imbalance in the market is systemic and contributes to the development of the shadow market. The state of the labor market is directly dependent on a number of general economic factors, such as the state of the economy as a whole, the rate of its growth or decline, the level of investment activity in the real sector. In Russia, the average wage is a very average indicator due to the significant development of individual territories of the country in terms of living standards, and the median wage shows that the average income level remains quite low. The study assesses the main trends in the Russian labor market in the current economic conditions, identifies features and cause-and-effect relationships based on the analysis of statistical data for the period 2018-2023. It has been established that in 2023, as in previous years, the employment level remains quite low: only 61% of the workforce has official employment, while the basic level for the efficient operation of the economy is 75%. At the same time, another 18.3% of the workforce are in the informal sector - essentially working illegally, and another 3.2% have officially registered their status as unemployed. Despite the nominal and real growth of the average wage in the country to 75 thousand rubles, the median average wage is a third lower - less than 47 thousand rubles.