Labor potential of young people: demands of contemporary labor market

Young people as a special socio-demographic group performs important social functions. On the one hand, it inherits the achieved level and ensures the continuity of the development of society and the state; on the other hand, it forms the image of the future and carries the function of social reproduction, has an innovative potential that can infl uence the development of the country and its regions. Even when they are just getting involved in social and labor relations, young people are already facing serious challenges of the labor market concerning the choice of profession, employment problems, compliance with the requirements of workplaces, the spread of non-standard forms of employment, as well as the gradual contraction of the labor market. In addition, the shares of the age groups of20-24 and 25-29 years in the structure of the employed population of the Russian Federation are steadily decreasing, which causes a challenge to the quality of their labor potential and the ability to meet this challenge. The purpose of the work is to analyze the qualitative characteristics of young people and the emerging trends of their employment within the framework of modern changes in the labor market. The information base for the analysis is Rosstat data on employment and unemployment issues among youth and the results of sociological surveys, conducted by VolRC RAS in the Vologda Oblast on the quality of labor potential in 1997-2020. The article examines trends in the number ofyouth demographic groups, employment and unemployment rates, as well as such labor market demands as the quality ofyouth labor potential, its employment, the rate of labor potential realization. We have shown that a signifi cant part of young people work in conditions of unstable social and labor relations, which means that they often face the risk of losing their jobs and earnings. The paper considers the issues of youth’s readiness for work. The scientifi c signifi cance of the article is connected with the actualization of the above issues in the perspective of the program for promoting youth employment in the Russian Federation until 2030, developed on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation. The novelty of the study is to identify the current problems of modern youth cohorts in the labor market that require new accents in the contemporary policy of youth employment support. Its results can be used in the development of youth employment programs at the meso- and macrolevels.