Youth Employment from the Perspective of the Center–Periphery Approach: Features, Prospects and Ways to Overcome Problems

The aim of the article is to analyze the characteristics and prospects of youth employment along the center–periphery axis at the intraregional level. For this, based on a case study of Vologda oblast of Russia, three groups of local territories (urban agglomeration zone, urban periphery, and rural periphery) were identified and differences in people’s life activities were analyzed depending on the proximity of their place of residence to the center of resources’ attraction. The results clearly demonstrate the complexity of the situation in peripheral labor markets: young people do not see many prospects in building a career and living away from large cities, which leads to increased centripetal migration both within the region and beyond. The solution to this problem, according to the surveyed heads of settlements, requires the development of infrastructure, the involvement of young people in public life, improving the image of settlements, etc.