Secondary employment and self-employment of higher education students: the scale, structure and functions (the case study of the Republic of Mordovia)

Introduction. Studying the issues of secondary employment of higher education students, which is a factor in the youth integration into the social and professional structure of society and in the extended reproduction of its human capital, is of particular relevance in the context of the prospects for transformation of the social space of the modern labor market. The processes of differentiation, flexibilization, and expansion of non-standard forms of employment focus on studying the features of the structure of secondary employment of students in terms of identifying self-employment practices as a way of implementing creative and entrepreneurial activities of the youth. Materials and Methods. The materials of the author pilot focus group study and the data from a sociological survey conducted among final-year students of institutions of higher education in the Republic of Mordovia were used. To carry out an analysis, the methods of calculating the indicators of descriptive statistics, of assessing connections between variables, as well as that of multivariate statistical analysis were employed. Results. It has been shown that secondary employment of senior undergraduate students of institutions of higher education in the Republic of Mordovia is a common practice. The employment of students is mainly localized in the private sector and is not predominantly related to the profession the institution of higher education trains students for. Self-employment makes up a significant proportion (nearly 25 %) of secondary employment. The segment of student self-employment is associated with the provision of a wide range of services, freelance and tutoring being the most popular ones. Self-employment practices are structured by type of activity, depending on gender, as well as on the novelty (or traditional nature) of the work done. Discussion and Conclusion. Self-employment contributes to students' adaptation to and integration into the labor market and is a factor in stimulating the migration attitudes of young people and instability of vocational orientations. The practical significance of the research consists in the possibility of using its results by the authorities of the Republic of Mordovia when developing the regional youth policy and state programs in labor and employment, and when optimizing the human resources policies of organizations and agencies.