Influence of long-distance commute work (LDC) on receiving towns in the Russian North: case study of Vorkuta

The impact of the long-distance commute work (LDC) on socio-economic wellbeing and community life of the northern cities in Russia is very little studied.In order to fill the gap in research, the paper at hand particularly aims to analyze social and economic effects of LDC in the Russian far northern settlements on the example of the town of Vorkuta located in the north-west part of the Republic of Komi. Since the beginning of 2000-s Vorkuta experiences new phenomena related to the inflow of mobile labour force coming to the place from all over Russia and the neighbouring countries for constructing gas export pipeline Bovanenkovo-Ukhta and working on the oil-gas fields in Yamal peninsula. Gradually Vorkuta transforms from the mono industrial mining settlement into a receiving center for LDC flows, while keeping and further developing its coal sector. Characteristics of this transition, its possible short and long-term outcomes, the potentials and problematic phenomena are the subject of this work.