Vol 20, No 2 (2024): РИСКИ И ВОЗМОЖНОСТИ РОССИЙСКОЙ ЭКОНОМИКИ ТРУДА: ПЕРВАЯ ПОЛОВИНА 20-х ГОДОВ XXI СТОЛЕТИЯ

The events that began in February 2022, and the subsequent new, much more serious Western sanctions, as well as the departure of a number of foreign companies from the country, required a significant intensification of the work of Russian industry. However, it turned out that enterprises in the real sector of the economy are acutely short of engineering, technical and labor personnel. The largest enterprises that have received serious government orders solve the personnel problem by sharply increasing wages. At the same time, up to half of industrial enterprises indicate a continuing shortage of personnel. The article presents a retrospective description of the situation with staffing in Russian industry. It is shown that, starting from the “default” of 1999, with the onset of the next crisis, declarations are made about the importance of developing one’s own industry and a corresponding turn in economic policy is announced, however, in reality, practically nothing changes, as evidenced by the current personnel crisis. Research conducted with the participation of the author over the past twenty years and concerning the labor mobility of university graduates (2005); students' ideas about the demand for engineering work (2007 and 2010); work of vocational education institutions in an industrialized city (2014); personnel supply in priority industries (2016-2017), made it possible to identify the reasons for the personnel shortage and the conditions for overcoming it. The key reasons are the low level of profitability of industrial enterprises, instability of workload, unclear prospects, and the root cause is an economic policy built on initially incorrect postulates and in the interests of global competitors. Accordingly, the condition for overcoming the personnel shortage is, firstly, the implementation of such monetary, fiscal and foreign trade policies that would allow the high-tech sector to reach the level of profitability necessary to attract and retain qualified labor. And, secondly, the state builds an effective strategic planning system that allows enterprises to reliably plan their activities for the long term.

Modern applied economics is in conditions of a systemic crisis, which, on the one hand, is constrained by government policy, and on the other, by the actions of business. The accumulation of contradictions between subjects, organizational goals and opportunities to achieve them continues. To find the necessary resources, as well as search for reserves of labor productivity, effective tools are needed, primarily related to the use of developments in the field of applied economics and scientific organization of labor. The purpose of the study is, based on an analysis of unfolding trends, an assessment of the current situation in the use of tools of applied labor economics at enterprises, to determine the prospects for the development of domestic approaches, the accumulation of the best experience of the country's companies in these areas. Research methods: expert interviews with scientists (9 interviews were conducted with scientists with experience in scientific and applied research in the field of labor economics), as well as heads of departments at industrial enterprises (7 interviews were conducted with HR directors, heads of occupational safety and health departments and centers for improving organizational efficiency ), analysis of documents and experience of the country's largest enterprises (the experience of 11 enterprises was studied). The results of the study showed that it is necessary to develop and transmit an up-to-date methodology for increasing organizational efficiency and labor productivity through the development of areas of labor economics in enterprises. The project “Labor Productivity and Employment” requires clarification of goals and approaches to achieving them. It is necessary to consolidate the expert community in the field of labor economics and assemble a universal methodology for the scientific organization of labor 2.0, its testing, taking into account modifications for different sectors of the economy. The results of the analysis can be useful to scientists in the field of personnel management, labor economics and organizational effectiveness to update the research agenda, as well as to enterprises that are interested in increasing labor productivity and personnel efficiency.

The development of the creative economy has been one of the most popular areas of economic theory and economic policy for three decades. Despite the constant growth of the creative class and government measures to support the creative sector, the size of the creative economy remains at 3% on average worldwide. The purpose of this article is to show the contradictions and limiting factors in the development of the creative class. The argumentation and conclusions of the article are based primarily on a political economy approach. The main information sources of the study are the following statistical databases: Russian statistical base (Rosstat), ILOSTAT (employment by occupational groups). The theoretical and empirical conclusions presented in the work prove that the quantitative growth of the creative class is not identical to its qualitative development; that the statistical measurement of the creative class through employment in creative industries significantly distorts the original meaning of the category of creative labor and several times underestimates the real number of creative professionals; that the uneven development of the creative class among countries is due, on the one hand, to inequality in economic development and intellectual migration from peripheral states to the center, on the other; that the association of creative professionals into a class has no economic basis due to the incompleteness of the formation of socio-economic stratification; that the creative content of labor under the capitalist mode of production does not eliminate the alienation of surplus value, and the exploitation of creative labor takes on a new form - the alienation of intellectual property rights and subsequent intellectual rent.

In the article, the authors turn to the study of platform employment in the context of its quality. The subject of the article is platform employment and digital labor platforms (DLPs). The object of the study is the quality of employment on DLPs. The study used analytical information from open sources, data from Russian and international statistics, and reports from international organizations. Based on statistical data, socio-demographic portraits of platform workers in BRICS countries are formulated. The authors also provided a critical analysis of the methods used to measure the quality of employment and carried out an assessment of the quality of employment on platforms for several countries, based on reports from Fairwork and open data. They conclude that it is a high degree of differentiation in the quality of employment on DLPs depending on the way of performing work (online or offline), the presence of platform work as the only employment of the worker, the degree of control of the platform over the worker and the type of work performed. Additional labor characteristics, in addition to the lack of social protection, are identified that worsen the quality of platform employment compared to traditional employment. Based on an analysis of the methodologies of the European Fund and the international European project Fairwork, it is illustrated that for many workers, the deteriorating characteristics of the quality of platform employment are such parameters as the volume of employment (excessive or insufficient), the balance of work and other areas of life, diversity of working tasks, labor cooperation, social interaction, opportunities for development and professional growth of workers.

In the report of the Government of the Russian Federation “On the Implementation of State Policy in the Field of Education in 2022”) presented to the Federation Council in June 2023, it was stated that one of the tools for achieving its strategic goals is “the formation of an integral system of personnel staffing for the scientific and technological development of the country". The system of personnel staffing in economic sectors forms the scientific and technical potential of industry and has a direct impact on the quality of life of industry workers and the population as a whole. Naturally, this creative process requires a project. One of the basic principles of designing complex systems is decomposition, based on the fact that such systems are created by the formation of a set of interconnected and interacting, but structurally relatively autonomous subsystems. In relation to the system of personnel staffing for the country's economy, social and other spheres of society, such subsystems can be identified in the entire set of these spheres. These include construction, industry, agriculture, energy, transport, communications, housing and communal services, education, culture, trade, etc. The article was written in this context, which develops a number of provisions of O.V. Budzinskaya’s doctoral dissertation., the design a staffing system of high-qualified personnel for the energy sector is discussed, taking into account the innovations proposed by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation in connection with Russia’s withdrawal from the Bologna process. Having proved for many years the point of view that engineering education does not end at a university, the authors, relying on the methodology of systems analysis and the basic principles of systems theory, and on the basis of a comparative analysis of trends in engineering education in economically developed countries, substantiate the thesis about the inexpediency of continuous development in a situation of active development education, in particular, the corporate segment in it, a unified standard for enlarged groups of areas and specialties of engineering training in terms of the duration of basic and specialized education programs. The subject of the study is the professional education system of the Russian Federation. The object of the study is a multi-level system of engineering education in Russia. The purpose of the study is to argue that the multilevel nature of Russian education is not connected with the Bologna process and to justify the need for a systematic approach to optimizing the duration of educational programs at each level.

The article is devoted to the processes that took place in the 90s in the economic, social and other spheres of life of Russian society and shows their changes that have occurred in the new century. Demographic processes, which experienced a deep crisis for almost the entire 90s, did not stand aside either. Depopulation, caused by both an increase in mortality and a decrease in the birth rate, continued at the beginning of the 21st century, changing only its components: at the beginning of the new century, mortality remained extremely high, while the birth rate had already begun to gradually increase. Urgent measures were needed that could correct the demographic situation in Russia. The article shows that the mid-1990s (2014-2016) was a turning point in the former comparative prosperity in the demographic development of Russia. Since 2016, a period of natural decline has begun again. It became especially significant in 2021-2022. during the coronavirus epidemic. The article provides an analysis of the regional differentiation of fertility dynamics in Russia in the tenth and twenties of the 21st century and the influence of demographic policy measures on them. The improvement in the demographic situation, as well as the onset of depopulation during this period, are associated with two factors – changes in age-specific birth rates and the number of women in reproductive groups. This is characterized based on the dynamics of the total fertility rate for 2002-2022. Formerly in the tenth and early twenties of the 21st century. The dynamics of the number of women in the most active reproductive ages affected the ratio of the rate of decline in the number of births and TFR. In the 20s, the number of women of reproductive age will continue to decline, as evidenced by the figures on the birth rate in the 80s and 90s and the 2020 census data on reproductive ages. The demographic wave that arose in those years had a very significant influence and will continue to influence the number of births in the 20s. But it will not be limited to this time. At the turn of the 40s-50s the wave will make itself known again. To reduce its consequences, it is necessary to adopt a new, well-thought-out demographic policy today.

The article is devoted to the meaning and role of education for the work activity of a modern person. Currently, there is a paradoxical situation in the labor market – on the one hand, there is a severe shortage of personnel, and on the other hand, employers’ demands for the level of training and competencies of employees are increasing. In this regard, the question of the value and significance of education for workers of various socio-demographic characteristics arises. Based on a questionnaire survey of workers in various fields of activity in the Republic of Tatarstan (n = 1271) and in-depth interviews (n = 17), as well as secondary analysis of data from all-Russian surveys conducted by VTsIOM on the topic of this work, the importance of both basic and additional education for workers was considered of different ages and different fields of activity – from industrial workers to business owners. Based on the data obtained, it was revealed that basic higher education is more valued by older people, paying attention not only to its actual availability, but also to the quality of receipt. The frequency of receiving additional education and plans for further training does not have a significant connection with the age of the respondents, and largely depends on the field of activity and position of the respondents. Business owners demonstrate the greatest readiness for additional education. Among hired workers, those most likely to plan to receive additional education in the coming year are education workers, representatives of the public sector and the information technology sector, and workers in industry and trade are the least likely to talk about plans to receive additional education.

The article offers a socio-philosophical analysis of the phenomenon of divorce, as the severance of the closest relationships that exist in society – the relationship between husband and wife, between parents and children. An attempt is made to critically comprehend modern social positions in relation to marriage as “limiting bonds of freedom”, and to divorce as a “window to freedom”, to study the motives for divorce and to search for ways to overcome the dissolution of marriage. This study was carried out based on a combination of socio-philosophical analysis and an interdisciplinary approach in compliance with the principles of systematicity, development and interconnection of the phenomena of reality. Comparative-historical, comparative-contrastive and structural-functional analysis is used. Based on the data of the author's regional study in Crimea, the motives for divorce are investigated, among which they stand out. problems of an ideological and personal nature, disagreement in ideas about family roles, the unpreparedness of one of the spouses for the birth of a child, family and everyday problems, housing issues. J. Levinger's model of strengthening marriage is being adapted to modern conditions, which consists of increasing the attractiveness of marriage; reducing the attractiveness of alternative relationships (“civil marriage”); increasing number of obstacles on the path to divorce. The findings of the study also indicate that the upward trend in divorce rates and the downward trend in marriages represent a kind of “scissors” that curtail the institution of the family.