Conditions for support of the unoccupied population in the Russian economy

The article considers the basic conditions for support of the unoccupied population in the Russian economy: demographic support (taking into account the share of the able-bodied population), economic support (focused on the percentage of employment among the able-bodied population) and effective support (influencing labor productivity and wage level). The aim of the work is to test the theses of the “macroeconomics of aging” in the case of Russia. The research method was a comparative analysis of dynamic phenomena between which the theory of “macroeconomics of aging” reveals a correlation. There are analyzed relationships between the volume of labor resources and external labor migration, the volume of labor resources and the volume of GDP, the volume of labor resources and unemployment, the number of vacancies and the unemployment rate. The discussion of Western authors about the dominant role of supply or demand in the labor market in relation to Russia is considered. The authors conclude that there is no noticeable correlation between the dynamics of the able-bodied population and external labor migration, the number of able-bodied people and the dynamics of GDP, as well as there is no correlation between the volume of labor resources and unemployment. At the same time, a clear inverse correlation is observed between the number of vacancies and the unemployment rate. It is deduced that there is no shortage of the working-age population in Russia, and external labor migrants create some competition for indigenous citizens due to low wages, rather than apply for vacant workplaces. There is revealed the predominant role of demand over supply in the Russian labor market, although these ratios are constantly changing as a result of flexible processes in the modern economy. It is identified that in Russia there is a certain reserve of unoccupied labor force both for the country as a whole and in the sphere of intensifying interregional migration. It is reasonably concluded that increasing labor productivity and wage level not only compensate for negative demographic trends, but can also lead to an increase in the reserves of unemployed labor.