The region's social policy and the “working poor” problems in the context of the working life quality

In order to increase the territories' development sustainability, the issues of state regulation of the social and labor sphere are of particular relevance. A limited cross-section of research on regional social policy in the context of the working life quality (WLQ) has confirmed the research interest in this issue. The purpose of the research is to analyze the subjective assessments of the working population regarding their working life quality and to assess the gaps in the region's social policy in relation to the state and quality of jobs. The article presents the results of the WLQ study of the Vologda Oblast population using multidimensional methods of statistical analysis. The information source were the results of a survey conducted by the Vologda Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2018. The use of component analysis allowed to identify the key factors of the WLQ formation, conditionally called “remuneration”, “internal environment” and “vocation”. The implementation of a multidimensional hierarchical approach using criteria characterizing WLQ allowed to conduct a typology of the Vologda Oblast's working population. The socio-cultural portrait of the most distressed group in the context of the working life quality is revealed. The authors made calculation of the summary (general) and private (individual) WLQ indicators in the context of three social groups based on the index system of assessment. The conclusion about the negative impact of low earnings on the degree of satisfaction with various aspects of the WLQ is made. Based on a detailed analysis of the Vologda Oblast's medium- and long-term regional development programs, the authors made a conclusion about the indirect inclusion of the WLQ components into them. The researchers state that it is necessary to implement a policy of high-quality economic growth in order to increase wages as a basic indicator of the WLQ. Practical recommendations for improving the living standards of the working population within the framework of the regionalsocial policy are substantiated. It is shown that in the future, using the data of the study, it is possible to develop a comprehensive methodology for assessing the WLQ of the region's population (along with official statistics) and practical measures to improve the living standards of the working population.