The Russian labor market: the state and prospects of development

The article examines the key aspects of the functioning and development of the Russian labor market. The coronavirus pandemic and external sanctions pressure are among the key external factors that have had a certain impact on the Russian labor market. The coronacrisis has made significant changes in the conjuncture of the Russian labor market: the remote employment format is becoming increasingly popular, employees and employers have felt their vulnerability in crisis situations. External sanctions pressure has led to a change in the operating conditions for employers, led to the need for adaptation, increased competition in the labor market for highly qualified personnel capable of ensuring competitiveness in domestic and foreign markets. The purpose of this study is to assess the dynamics of the development of the Russian labor market in the context of the coronavirus pandemic and the imposition of sanctions by a number of foreign countries. In the course of the study, the authors revealed a decrease in the number of unemployed in the Russian economy by more than 19%. However, there is also a decrease in the labor force by 1.58%, which is largely due to the influence of the demographic factor: from 2017 to 2021, the average age of the population in the Russian Federation increased by 1.76% and reached 40.4 years, and the total fertility rate decreased by 7.16% and in 2021 amounted to 1.5. Also, in 2018-2022, the average monthly nominal accrued wages of workers in the Russian economy increased by more than 46%, and in 2017-2021, a slight increase in the share of those employed in the service sector due to a corresponding decrease in the size of those employed in industry, the share of wages in the gross domestic product of the Russian Federation decreased by 6.5% in absolute terms. In 2017-2021, the share of the informal sector increased by 2.5%. In other words, according to the results of 2021, one in five people in the Russian economy works informally without formalizing employment relations with an employer, over the corresponding period of time, the distribution of total monetary income by 20 percent of the population has not changed. The authors believe that at the present stage of socio-economic development, the priority is to address demographic issues, as well as to improve the quality of personnel training for functioning in the conditions of innovative, digital and technological development of the Russian Federation under sanctions pressure.