Structural employment shifts in an industrial region: about improved living standards of population

Introduction. The labour market is the most important part of the economic system of the country and the region, while the ongoing changes reflect the current trends in economic development. There are many studies aimed at identifying cause-and-effect relationships that have led to a decline in the standard of living among population in the Russian regions, but only a few are focused on the analysis of employment as the main factor in the standard of living. The aim of the study is to assess the shifts in the employment structure of the region. To do this, the study analyses the dynamics of labour income and employment in the context of the sectoral structure of the economy in Chelyabinsk Region and the Russian Federation, refers to the shift-share analysis, identifies promising sectors of the economy in Chelyabinsk Region with the localization coefficient, and recommends scenarios of regional socio-economic policy with regard to the proposed typology of economic activities.