Labor resources of rural areas: state and problems

The study identifies unique characteristics of labor resources in rural areas. The research basis was an analysis of core statistical indicators of the Vologda Oblast labor market in terms of municipal districts. It reveals that the balance and state of local labor markets correlate to the urbanization degree. Thus, the urbanization degree coefficient is used as a basic criterion for urban-rural differentiation. To ease the interpretation, the region’s districts are divided into three groups: rural districts, districts of low, medium and high urbanization degrees. The article discloses that the labor market in rural areas has a less diversified employment structure, tending to budget and agricultural sectors, which indirectly shows low professional mobility of the population. The registered labor market data reveals that the rural areas are characterized by shorter duration of formal unemployment and a relatively low tension coefficient in the labor market. This observation can be interpreted as rural workers’ denial of the registration with the employment service after a certain time in favor of independent informal economic activity. The statistical data on the educational level of the population indicate violation of the supply and demand balance in the labor market from the point of view of workers’ qualification. The article discloses not only a lack of highly qualified staff and abundance of low qualified personnel, but also discrepancy between the education level and local organizations demands. The measurement of the revealed features stimulates the regional policy optimization in order to achieve balanced development of territories with different proportion of rural population.