Labor Market of Russian Regions and Municipalities in 2019–2022: A Multiscale View and Territorial Inequality

The article analyzes the processes in the labor market of Russian regions and municipalities in 2019–2022. Despite the crisis-related events associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the outbreak of hostilities, and subsequent international sanctions, the Russian labor market demonstrated amazing resilience during this period. One of the objectives of the study is to supplement the analysis of traditional statistical indicators of the state of the labor market with new sources: Rosstat data and open Federal Tax Service data based on personal income tax reporting forms are used, which additionally reveal the situation in local labor markets of regions and municipalities. It is shown that the economic crisis-related phenomena evolved against a negative demographic wave associated with a reduction in the number of people of working age, due to which the expected negative effects—in an increase in long-term unemployment and a fall in wages—did not occur. At the local level, significant gaps in average worker wages remained throughout the period between municipalities with different population sizes and statuses. However, in contrast to previous crises, during the COVID crisis of 2020–2021, there was a reduction in the gap between large and small municipalities in wages, apparently due to active state intervention and additional social benefits, but the trend towards increasing inequality has prevailed again since 2022. As a result, the Gini index calculated for the entire period 2019–2022 for the distribution of wages shows virtually no dynamics either at the regional level or within most regions.