Transformation of sectoral and occupational employment structure (case study of the Northwestern Federal District)

The employment structure is one of the most important factors concerning economic development. Due to the fact that changes in the employment structure are largely conditioned by corresponding changes in the dynamics and structure of production, the economic literature analyzes employment by three sectors of the economy - agriculture, industry and services. This study examines the sectoral and qualification employment structure in dynamics by types of economic activities in the Russian Federation as a whole and the Northwestern Federal District in particular, taking into account OKVED-2 for 2010-2022. Using the Vologda Region as an example, we calculate the economic effect of final consumption arising from changes in demand taking into account the return of Vologda school graduates who received vocational education in other regions. The data of official statistics of Rosstat served as the information base. To calculate the economic effects of final consumption, we used the input-output toolkit. We revealed that the sectoral employment structure in Russia as a whole and in the North-Western macro-region shows similar trends: growth of the tertiary sector, inter-sectoral movement of workers, professional and qualification transformations. The paper proves that transformations in the sectoral and professional structure of employment, including in the perspective of quantitative changes, make a significant contribution to the volume of final consumption of the territory. The scientific and practical significance of the study lies in the fact that the analysis shows not only the presence of typical changes in the structure of the employed population (a decrease in employment in agriculture and industrial production and an increase in employment in services), but also presents the existing intra-sectoral regional differences, as well as reveals the consequences for the final demand of households in the region’s economy from the increase in the number of employees.