The Russian labor market: current state and current problems

Recent years in Russia are characterized by a period of protracted socio-economic crisis caused by both external and internal factors. The current situation had a tangible negative impact on the domestic labor market as well, as against the backdrop of the economic downturn there was a forced curtailment of business and a series of staff cuts followed. The pandemic that began in 2020 has become another factor in the strengthening of the crisis in the economy. In the current circumstances, a comprehensive analysis of the socio-economic phenomena and their consequences caused by political transformations, which is often simply impossible without the use of a set of statistical methods and tools, is of great importance. In the course of the study, a statistical assessment of the main indicators of the labor market and the economically active population in Russia in the period 2017-2021 is carried out, the trends that have developed during the crisis and their causes are identified. It has been established that in 2021 the Russian labor market is characterized by a revival after a significant decline in 2020 against the background of the outbreak of the pandemic. Over the past 5 years, it was 2020 that became a crisis point in the labor market, when the labor force decreased to 74.9 million people, and the unemployment rate rose to 5.8%. The worsening situation on the labor market is also evidenced by the increase in the level of registered unemployment, which in previous years has steadily amounted to no more than 1%, and in 2020 rose to 3.7% against the backdrop of the loss of most of the population of their income in a pandemic.