Unemployment as a new phenomenon of the transition economy of Russia in 1990–2000: causes, problems, solutions (on the example of the Southern Urals)

The article attempts to consider the problem of unemployment as a new phenomenon of transition economy in Russia in the 1990-ies. The purpose of the study is to determine the causes of unemployment, identify problems and difficulties in combating it, compare methods of struggle at the federal and regional levels, and assess the degree of their success. To achieve this goal, the following methods were used: statistical, system-structural, descriptive, comparative-historical. The sources include materials from federal and regional archives, statistical data from the Orenburg, Chelyabinsk regions and the Republic of Bashkortostan. The relevance of the topic is seen in the fact that unemployment as a phenomenon is studied in domestic historiography to a greater extent from the point of view of economic research. In the historical context, the problem was actively considered in the first decade after the end of the reforms. At the same time, the region of the Southern Urals is partially covered in the works of historians, which makes it possible to consider this problem in more detail. Conclusions: conclusions were made about the spontaneity of the measures taken by the heads of enterprises in the region to prevent unemployment, since at the federal level a program for organizing the employment of the population released as a result of the economic transition from a planned to a market economy had not yet been developed. It was determined that the first methods of combating unemployment were a consequence of regional decisions. A package of measures to prevent the spread of unemployment was formed, but without taking into account regional characteristics, which did not allow solving the problem in a timely manner. This complex did not affect the socio-psychological state of the unemployed and did not regulate the system of secondary and higher education, all this led to an increase in youth unemployment and an extension of the duration of the unemployed status. It was concluded that this period should be considered a period of searching for solutions and testing them on the population. The applied set of measures showed its ineffectiveness and required revision