Specialists with higher medical education on the labor market

Based on the weighted microdata of the 2019 Rosstat Labor Force Survey, it was examined how the labor strategies of doctors implemented at the microlevel affect the situation on the labor market on the whole. To do this, the author tried to find answers to the following questions: 1) how the potential of those who had higher medical education was used in terms of their involvement in economic activity, 2) what is the amount of those whose labor path ran within the field of their chosen profession, and who did not work in the specialty and 3) what are the reserves of the unemployed, which, under certain conditions, could be used. The analysis carried out from the perspective of not only the standard, but also the extended concept of labor force showed high involvement of this professionally qualified group in the economy. Specialists with diplomas from medical higher schools stood out sharply among other categories of specialists by their commitment to their initial choice of profession. Only a relatively small number of doctors changed the type of occupation. Young doctors (graduates of2016-2018) followed the same strategies Judging by the scale of the real and potential resources of medical specialists, there is no reason to say that they are available in any significant amount. In scientific and political circles it is widely discussed how to overcome the shortage of doctors. Underestimation of the rather rigid restrictions on inter-professional mobility in the field of medicine leads to an increase in the vulnerability of this group of highly qualified specialists in the labor market and, as a consequence, to professional burnout and a decrease in motivation to work, which is extremely dangerous in medical practice.