Labor Market Conditions and Labor Migration in Russian Regions

In recent years, the Russian labor market has been in an extremely tense state, close to “overheating,” which poses risks for the economic development of the country. The most dynamically changing components of the market are the demand for labor and its supply. In the context of population decline, migration remains a flexible and effective mechanism for replenishing the labor force. Differences in the demographic and socio-economic situation in the Russian Federation and neighboring countries, primarily Central Asian ones, create preconditions for cross-border population movements, while the differentiation of various indicators of Russian regions becomes a factor in intra-country migration. In this study, the authors set the task of assessing the extent to which the situation in regional labor markets can influence the intensity of both international and interregional migration flows in Russia, ensuring their self-regulation and balancing. For this purpose, we constructed a clustering of the subjects of the Russian Federation based on the main indicators of labor supply and demand, as well as the intensity of labor migration flows in various directions. Then a correlation analysis of the selected indicators was carried out. The results show that, in general, labor migration smooths out imbalances in regional markets, but the effect of self-regulation mechanisms is far from perfect. For example, there is no linear relationship between tension in the labor market and the intensity of arrival of labor migrants. Based on the findings, the authors conclude by making recommendations regarding the need to create and improve federal mechanisms to ensure contact between employers and job seekers from different regions and to stimulate labor mobility of their populations.