The article describes the main features of the labor market in Pavlovo, Nizhny Novgorod oblast, analyzes employment strategies of the population from different property groups. Due to its geographical location, socio-demographic structure, Pavlovo was chosen as an example of a typical small town in the European part of Russia. The article presents the results of sociological survey conducted in 2011 and 2021. The 2011 survey was carried out by the Institute of Socio-Economic Studies of Population of the FCTAS RAS (Moscow) and Lobachevsky State University of Nizhniy Novgorod (Nizhny Novgorod) with participation of the universities of Glasgow (Scotland) and Uppsala (Sweden). The 2021 survey — by the Center for the Study of Social Systems, the Department of Sociology of Project Activity and Pro-Competitive Regulation of the Lobachevsky State University of Nizhniy Novgorod., the universities of Glasgow (Scotland), Uppsala (Sweden) with the support of the Scientific Information Center, Nizhny Novgorod. As a result of the cluster analysis, four social groups were identified that differ from each other in socio-economic characteristics and strategies of behavior in the labor market. The relationship between the level of education and the position on the labor market is clearly visible. In the group of affluent households, there are more people who have higher education. Higher education and qualification level allow one to occupy higher-paying positions, diversify career strategies even in a single-industry city. While in low-income families, the share of those who are employed in the industrial sector, in particular, at the city-forming enterprise, is higher. Affluent households show the greatest economic activity, while combining additional ways of earning with the main specialty. It is important to note that the lower the family income level, the less often they use the opportunities for additional earnings. People of retirement age, while maintaining an average level of economic activity and sufficient labor potential (education, skill level), are quite severely limited in employment opportunities. Factors reducing the material well-being of family are the presence of minor children, the position of a single parent, the status of a pensioner. Those living alone are also often low-income, especially women.
The article examines the dynamics of changes in the volume of monetary income as a means for life of Russians, including implementation of their consumption priorities. It shows distribution of the population's expenditures on consumption of food and non-food products, alcoholic beverages and payment for services. The analysis is based on government statistics on 20 percent income groups, it covers a four-year period, including two years on the eve of the coronavirus pandemic and two years of its development. In the structure of the use of monetary income of the entire (without breakdown into groups) population (2018-2021) are analyzed indicators characterizing changes not only in the purchase of goods and services, but also in the increase/decrease in savings, which act as a reserve for future consumer opportunities. There are identified differences in the change in the share of household spending on food and services in the overall structure of consumer spending by macro-regions of Russia — Federal districts. From the standpoint of macro-regional differentiation in the structure of the use of monetary income for a ten-year period, the emphasis is placed on the purchase of goods and payment for services in Russia as a whole, and especially on the active growth in the Far Eastern and North Caucasus macro-regions. The share of expenses for the purchase of a number of the most important food products in household consumer spending is considered by decile income groups. A comparative analysis of the least and most affluent groups of the population is carried out within the frames of the specified directions reflecting priorities in the consumer behavior of the Russian population.
One of the characteristics of labor potential is the ability to work among its carriers indiv i duals, groups and the population, by which are also studied other characteristics (demography, health, social and economic activity, professional competencies, etc.). On the basis of working capacity is determined the most general indicator of the labor potential of population, namely, labor resources. This indicator is structured according to a number of qualitative parameters. They make it possible to identify labor resources used in public production, as well as unused reserves. Their involvement in labor is becoming relevant in the context of the modern need to increase the self-sufficiency of the economy, and hence, to increase these resources. However, their growth is limited for demographic reasons. To assess the available reserves, labor resources are ranked according to the characteristics of economic activity. In descending order, the categories are distinguished according to their relation to the labor force: the real labor force (employed and unemployed), potential labor force (not employed, but willing to work) and not included in the labor force (not willing to work). Calculations for these categories showed that in 2021, the real labor force dominated in the labor force (85.6%). The potential contingent accounted for a miserable amount (slightly more than one percent), and for those who did not want to work — a little more than 10%. But among those not included in the labor force, more than two thirds of this category were those who had objective reasons for being unemployed, as well as those employed in unpaid but useful domestic work. Factors influencing the structure of labor resources are considered by regions of the Russian Federation. They showed dependence of this structure on the birth rate, aging of the population, internal migration, and, above all, on the parameters of employment and unemployment, which play a leading role among the factors for improving this structure.
The purpose of this study was to study new ways of financial fraud faced by Russian society during the pandemic. The object of the study is the Russian society, the subject is financial fraud schemes that became possible due to restrictive measures and the rapid development of online commerce during the pandemic. Modern society is facing various challenges, which are caused not only by progressive development technologies, innovations, changing technological patterns, rapid development and widespread introduction of information (digital) technologies, but also by factor whose appearance was difficult to predict — the Coronavirus pandemic. It has only been two years since the whole world has been living in the pandemic, but during this time the behavioral attitudes of society have undergone significant changes: from the "self-isolation regime" and the mandatory "wearing" of masks — to working "remotedly" and the mandatory presentation of QR codes. Recent changes largely predetermined the rapid development of information and communication technologies, which affected real communication and the possibility of changing online behavior: shopping, getting certificates and documents, working remotely—50 to 80% of employees in various fields had to work at home. Going online entailed not only increased demand for communication services, development of Internet commerce, Internet banking (at the beginning of the pandemic, a mortgage purchase of housing was carried out completely online for the first time), but also contributed to creation of new types of financial fraud through communication technologies. The article uses the materials of the Federal Statistical Service, VTSIOM, the Bank of Russia, RBC, analytical materials of financial structures, analysts and the results of studies, including those by the author, conducted in the south-east of Moscow oblast.The results of the conducted research can be significant for prevention of fraudulent actions, as well as during classes on financial literacy of the population. The relevant authorities, committees and commissions can use these materials to conduct explanatory activities for the population.
The continuous increase in human energy production per caput is accompanied by an increase in the world population. The work considers the demographic history of civilization as a function of the growing production and use of the energy by mankind. The evolution in the «energy-man» system took place relatively safely for the biosphere and a man up to the value of the per caput energy consumption of 11,000 kW*h/year*person that was achieved by civilization in 1950. Modern high per caput energy consumption of civilization is achieved at the cost of the loss of the environment-forming functioning by the biosphere and at the cost of the loss of the psychophysical health of a person. We can see the prospects for development of civilization through analysis of the energy-demographic history of mankind over the past 200 years. The features of fertility and mortality in the world are considered depending on the per caput energy consumption with a forecast for the future. Two limits to the growth of global energy production were formulated in terms of preventing harm to humans. Corresponding analytical dependencies are proposed. To prevent an ecological and demographic catastrophe and ensure transition of civilization to sustainable development, it is proposed to reduce the world energy production to 140*1012 kW*h/year with a decrease in per caput energy consumption to a relatively safe level of 18,000 kW*h/year*person, which existed in society in 1970. After this «step back» civilization will enter a state of relatively safe existence.
Public health protection in modern conditions is one of the main factors of socio-economic development of all countries of the world. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals requires an urgent solving the problems of universal healthcare coverage. In this regard, it is necessary to monitor the quality and accessibility of health care in two important aspects: health services coverage and financial protection in health care. Based on the materials of sample statistical and sociological surveys, comparative analysis, the article examines the issues of households' satisfaction with the quality and availability of medical services, possibility of using remote medical consultations, and availability of paid medical services. The reasons for dissatisfaction with the quality of health care were identified: dissatisfaction with the work of district doctors, shortage of medical specialists, long waiting time for an appointment. The dependence of the availability of remote medical services on the ability to pay, age composition and place of residence of the population is revealed. This study creates the preconditions for refining the strategy in the field of health protection concerning the issues of financing medical services for certain socially unprotected segments of the population by expanding the compulsory health insurance program for provision of primary health care by non-governmental medical organizations, including use of telemedicine. It is advisable to control the approach to the critical level of financial expenditures of the family budgets of various households on payment for medical services through regular monitoring of the availability of medical services. It is proposed to expand the scope of professional liability insurance for doctors and medical workers, develop professional standards and ethical principles for conducting medical activities. Implementation of the proposed measures will reduce the "catastrophic expenses" from family budgets of households for paying for health care, will contribute to increasing life expectancy of the Russian population and create conditions for economic growth.
The article analyzes the gender and demographic features of the labor market of the Republic of Tuva: the structure and rate of employment and unemployment in gender dimension and historic retrospect covering the period of Tuva People's Republic (1921-1944), the Soviet and post-Soviet stages of history. On the basis of statistical data it is shown that from 1945 began predominance of female population in the demographic structure of the republic that is characteristic of modern Tuva. The author makes an attempt to give a historic explanation of this turn. The article shows changes in the ratio of male to female population of Tuva from 1931 to 2020 using various statistic sources and data. In the features of the gender profile of the regional labor market, the author identifies demographic, socio-cultural and economic factors determining it, in particular, the reasons for withdrawal of men from the economically active population in certain age groups. The article substantiates the thesis that, despite the steady trend of reducing unemployment in the republic in 2017, 2018, 2019, the issue of male employment remains acute. It also shows the level of demographic burden on the working-age population of the Republic of Tuva connected with the specifics of reproductive behavior of the population of the republic, namely, high birth rates, as well as the emerging trend of increasing the proportion of people over the working age due to the positive dynamics of increasing life expectancy in the republic.
The article was prepared on the results of a study of the impact of urban environment quality (UEQ) on the demographic characteristics of city dwellers (birth and death rates, ageing index, birth-death ratio). These demographic indicators, in the authors' opinion, can reflect to a certain extent the state of population health. More comprehensive data on the Russian urban population health (life expectancy at birth, primary disease incidence by main disease classes, disability, etc.) are not published by Rosstat. This article is the first to set the task of assessing the impact of urban environment quality on city dwellers health through the urban environment quality index developed by specialists from the RF Ministry of Construction and other organizations in 2018. The study was carried out in 174 cities of the Russian Federation with a population of over 100 thousand people. The cities were grouped according to the following criteria: UEQ index, population size, belonging to Federal Districts. The strength of relationship was estimated by Spearmen rank correlation coefficient, the reliability of the obtained results was checked by scatterplot and Pearson correlation coefficient. Comparison of the city groups was made using nonparametric analysis of variance. To check the differences between the groups of cities, the Kruskal-Wallis test by ranks was implemented.
The article presents analysis of the trends in the demographic development of the regions of the Russian Far East and the processes that directly and indirectly determine preservation of the human potential of the macroregion. Multidimensional analysis allows us to assess the objective opportunities for successful development of both the macroregion as a whole and its separate territories, including those within the framework of the current State national programs. The dynamics of population in combination with its low density and shortage of labor resources significantly affect the socio-economic development of the regions in the district. Socio-demographic indicators (migration balance, healthy life expectancy, share of citizens adhering to a healthy lifestyle) and socio-economic indicators (dynamics of monetary income / consumer spending and investment in fixed assets per capita) allowed us to identify the main trends of recent years in the development of the Far East regions. It was found out that the majority of regions belong to the most depopulating territories in Russia with critical indicators of the level of self-preservation behavior, with the current dangerous trend of migration losses (primarily in the working-age population), with low values of the life expectancy index. It is necessary to conduct a differentiated economic policy in the macroregion. The characteristics of differentiation of the situation in the macroregion, shown in the article, may contribute to development of a set of tools to deal with the situation in each region of the Far East. Since the main cause of the unfavorable demographic trends is the lag of the real living standards of the population behind the national average, the necessary measures of administrative action are: financing of social infrastructure in the macroregion; ensuring high social standards for families of professionals; providing a competitive level of education and conditions for development of the system of training and retention of personnel; effective functioning of regional economic clusters; development of small and medium-sized businesses.
The problems of building and realizing the self-identity of men and women through the practice of gender awareness education are relevant to all countries and cultures to varying degrees. The article attempts to conduct a comparative analysis of gender policy in Russia and China at the present stage in two aspects: education in the field of equality of rights and opportunities of men and women; correction of gender stereotypes and biases. The specificity of the approach to solving gender problems correlates with the national-cultural, political, religious, and ethical characteristics of the Russian and Chinese peoples. In Russia, as in China, the norms and principles of interaction between men and women, as well as the equality of their rights and opportunities in social life, are formally recognized by society and legalized, that contributes to spread of egalitarian views and attitudes. However, the declarative nature of this recognition often manifests itself in the lives of citizens of both States. Nevertheless, the traditional gender stereotypes are being overcome in Russian and Chinese society (in each in its own way), the authorities are trying to expand the legislative framework on gender equality of men and women, attract administrative resources to improve the level of gender culture of the population, as well as develop and implement programs designed for women. The strategic direction of gender policy and gender awareness education remains the development of a systematic approach to the presence of a gender component in the understanding of social processes, to the integration of the achievements of both sexes in the organization of society.
The purpose of the presented research was to study the impact of labor migration on the development of human resources in Kyrgyzstan. Before collecting the data, several theoretical assumptions were identified, ranging from personal experiences of migrant workers to their remittances and new skills acquired during the migration process. A common finding of the literature on migration is that migrants are more likely to choose self-employment upon return to their origin countries. This has led to the belief that return migration stimulates entrepreneurship in source countries and hence support economic development. In this paper we test these assertions, drawing on the study of life in Kyrgyzstan, a rich longitudinal data set from transition economies with high levels of international temporary migration. We find that for return migrants, self-employment is often a temporary occupational choice, suggesting that self-employment serves as a 'parking lot'. This research used case studies with quantitative and qualitative data, as well as the authors' sociological studies. Analysis of interviews with 25 current labor migrants in Russia and 25 repatriates in Kyrgyzstan concerned the following aspects: problems and benefits of migration; development of new skills; use of money transfers; reasons to return; employment or self-employment; remittances as investments and governments assistance in entrepreneurial activities of returnees. According to the research results, it was concluded that labor migration has an impact on development, which falls within the framework of the development of human resources. This is especially noticeable with regard to remittances and new skills brought by labor migrants to the Kyrgyz Republic.
The article deals with characteristic features of the financial behavior of student youth and factors affecting it. This paper is based on the results of the author's survey that was conducted in the fall of2020and covered 1242students from 17 universities in Russia. It examines the attitude of young people to saving, consumer, and investment behavior. The author sought to finds out whether the consumer preferences of young students are consistent with their financial capabilities, and whether young people are satisfied with realization of their life plans. He analyzes the sources of income of students and the sums which they consider as savings. The problems of financial dependence of the younger generation on the older ones are discussed in this article. The differences in the financial behavior of students financially dependent on parents and those leading an independent way of life are analyzed. The article presents results of the survey of students' financial behavior related both to preservation and accumulation of capital, and to general strategies of saving behavior—saving for purchasing goods, medical treatment and services, education, etc. There are considered financial instruments used or planned to be used by the respondents in case of saving large sums of money. The article shows the differences in investment behavior, in use of financial instruments between independent and financially dependent students. There are examined discrepancies between the consumer preferences and the financial capabilities of student youth. The conducted study allows drawing a conclusion about the influence of family and parents, their attitudes, and views on the financial decisions of students, which are not always rational.
Since the beginning of socio-economic transformations (1991), the state system has changed, but the concept of the essence of social justice established in the years of socialism has been preserved. This circumstance is crucial for mutual understanding and consent in our society. All subsequent events, including voting on constitutional amendments (2020), serve as convincing evidence in favor of the statement made. These amendments are a specific invention that opens up the possibility for the government to relieve the constantly increasing tension for some time. The fact is that after the departure of tsarism from the historical scene (based on the idea of divine origin of its power), the Constitution represents Russia as a state governed by the rule of law and actually fulfills the function of a social contract. Therefore, according to the established tradition, a change of power always entails constitutional transformations. At the same time, everyone understands that there is a gap between the well-written constitutional norms and the reality of life in the country, which allows the government to administer the affairs at their discretion. Still, the possibilities of maneuvering are far from unlimited. Both the constitutional amendments and the actions of the authorities during the period of self-isolation show a reverse movement towards socialist distribution relations. This is an inevitable payment for the use of market mechanisms in the society, for which, even many years after the start of reforms, distribution relations serve as the main criterion of social justice. By initiating such amendments, the authorities show their concern and desire at least for an ostentatious restoration of social justice, thus increasing trust, harmony, and cohesion in the society.
The level of child poverty in Russia is almost twice the national poverty rate. According to UNICEF's definition, "children living in poverty are those who are deprived of the material, spiritual and emotional resources necessary for survival, development and prosperity, which deprives them of the opportunity to enjoy their rights, to reach their full potential and to participate as full and equal members of society". One of the reasons for child poverty in Russia is the evasion of parents living separately from children from paying child support. The total alimony debt in Russia reached 156 billion rubles in 2020 and continues to grow. According to Rosstat and the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, one in five children under the age of 16, for whom there is arrears on alimony payments appointed by the court, does not receive money. That's almost 1.5 million children. The Family Code of the Russian Federation has established the right of every child to receive maintenance from parents, and children should not experience deprivation due to their parents' irresponsibility, otherwise society and public authorities should be obliged to take special care of children, who do not have sufficient means of subsistence. This algorithm of actions is also contained in paragraph 4 of Article 67.1 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation — the State takes over the responsibilities of parents in relation to children left without care. To achieve the national goal of reducing the level of poverty, fundamentally new approaches to the system of alimony recovery are required, including creation of a State Alimony Fund in Russia, as well as improving the value of the child's quality of life in the eyes of parents and society, strengthening the moral responsibility of parents for children.
Today, we are faced with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which directly or indirectly affected all countries and regions of the world. The State policy of all countries is aimed at containing the spread of the virus and meeting the basic needs of people in forced isolation. This situation has once again proved the importance of the institution of social protection of population (hereinafter—ISPP) and the need to ensure the efficiency of its functioning. The high rates of growth of social changes, in turn, cause a certain lag behind the process of their scientific comprehension accumulation of issues unsolved by means of sociological science. Thus, the current system for assessing efficiency of the ISPP functioning in terms of the actually obtained result against the normative / planned one, as well as the system for assessing economic costs, do not meet the challenges faced by modern science and management. Many problems concerning assessment of the ISPP functioning remain unresolved. In particular, the entire range of difficulties faced by consumers of social services has not been fully disclosed; the issues of achieving a consistently high satisfaction of vulnerable groups of the population with various quantitative and qualitative parameters of service provision are acute. The article discusses the scientific concepts and approaches to assessing the effectiveness of social protection of population used in domestic and foreign social science and practice, and outlines the developed model for assessing effectiveness of the ISPP functioning on the example of the Republic of Tatarstan, which is based on an integrated approach that consists in fixing the temporal and spatial aspects of assessing effectiveness of the ISPP functioning.
The following review article analyzes an array of scientific studies dedicated to the Russian population of the neighboring countries. This article considers the works dealing with quantitative, spatial, and settlement dynamics of Russian communities; scale and direction of migration; shifts in indicators of natural reproduction and sex-age structure. Analysis of the scientific literature shows a widespread trend of depopulation, reduction in geography, a noticeable gender imbalance and increase in the average age among Russians across the entire near abroad. But there are also significant cross-country differences in these trends. This article also identifies main directions of research on the ethno-social dynamics of the Russian population, including analysis of the problems of its ethnic self-identification and interethnic marriage, the related assimilation processes, which, depending on the country and region, could contribute to both replenishment of Russian communities, or growth of their demographic losses. The studies dedicated to sociocultural processes, to position of the Russian language and Russian culture in the post-Soviet space, show multidirectional nature of the changes. A significant reduction in the scale of Russian-language education and other spheres of sociocultural infrastructure was combined in the post-Soviet space with dominance of the Russian-speaking Internet and keeping Russian as the language of interethnic communication. The scientific literature also reveal significant differences in the strategies of the Russian people themselves, in some regions of the neighboring countries they are predominantly focused on complex socio-cultural integration, in the others — on preservation of their cultural and linguistic specifics.
On the basis of data for 2013-2017, the article shows changes in the level, structure and differentiation of the Russian population monetary income after the introduction by Rosstat in 2018 of a new methodology for calculating macro-economic indicators of population monetary income by separate income sources. Comparative analysis of the calculations made by the 1996 and 2018 methods shows significant changes only in the structure of population monetary income, mainly in such income items as work remuneration of employees and other cash receipts. Average per capita income changed slightly (+/-1%). Besides, there are actually no changes in the indicators of differentiation and in the distribution series for population by income despite the fact that the estimation of population inequality was made using the data from the Sample Survey of Population Income (SSPI) instead of the Household Budget Survey (HBS) used before. Based on the data from the Sample Survey of Population Income for 2013-2017, the article shows the relationship between the indicators of wage differentiation and per capita monetary income that differ from the official data, and in our opinion, this is due not only to different information sources, but also to the methods of income inequality estimation for the total population. The article provides variants of calculating differentiation of the RF population monetary income for 2018 using logarithmic normal model with similar per capita monetary income of the total population and different number of the population with per capita income within the range of the set minimum income. As a result, the R/P10% ratio of the RF population income increases in comparison with the officially published indicators of inequality.
The article analyzes various studies in the field of population behavior in the financial market. Since psychological factors related to mentality, temperament, and risk-taking play an important role in implementing financial strategies, along with rational motives, women and men may behave differently. An attempt is made to answer the question: whether there are significant gender differences in financial behavior models, and whether this aspect requires a close attention of scientists who study trends and features of forming strategies of Russians when making economic decisions. A review of Russian and foreign studies aimed at investigation of gender characteristics of investment behavior and financial literacy is performed. Traditionally, in most families, men are responsible for the financial situation, they are more concerned with providing for their family, earning and multiplying money. Women, as a rule, are more concerned with the «inner» side of family life — so that everyone is fed, dressed, shod, and provided with everything necessary. Therefore, if both of them have decided to invest, the emphasis in the well-known formula «save and multiply» is made by men on the second word, and by women — on the first. As a result, women are significantly less likely to take risks and more likely to make profitable transactions. Men are more prone to take risks, for them it is not so much the result of investment that is important, as the excitement, and work in the financial markets is somewhat akin to hunting. Probably there are some primitive triggers at the level of the subconscious that are blocked by the norms of morality and etiquette in society. For women, stability is much more important, and the desire to maintain a sense of security prevails rather than a thirst for risk. The study revealed poor elaboration of this topic, lack of Russian research on gender-specific financial behavior due to the underdevelopment of the Russian financial market, as well as the lack of sufficient supply of financial instruments for further accumulation of experience in implementing their strategies by representatives of both genders.
In the 21st century, rural population in Russia as a whole continues to decline. However, different levels of urbanization and different rates of its change across regions indicate the heterogeneity of processes and the influence of many factors. The main trends are completion of the withering away of the traditional rural lifestyle, mixing urban and rural lifestyles in the suburbs with predominance of the former (summer cottages, cottages), gravitation of rural economic activity towards the zones of influence of agglomerations, development of an economic base not related to agriculture: seasonal work, tourism and recreation, traditional crafts, remote work, creative projects. Technological progress, development of means of online dissemination of technologies and know-how, withdrawal of industrial production from large cities and their miniaturization allow us to discuss the prospects for development of industries in rural areas that satisfy a significant part of the local demand for consumer goods and the need for certain types of equipment. The course towards a reasonable regional economic autonomy will allow increasing the proportion of local agricultural products in the regional diet, which also requires development of cooperation of small agricultural producers and diversification of sales channels. To ensure competitiveness of rural areas as a habitat in relation to cities, it is necessary to ensure connectivity of those areas with central localities and provision of modern infrastructure, amenities, access to education, healthcare and high culture. This can be facilitated by modern solutions that are currently at varying degrees of implementation in different countries of the world (such as distance forms of education, healthcare, exhibitions, performances; crowdfunding projects) and by the solutions from the recent past that have not found sufficient implementation (for example, local aviation, regional tours of artists and performers).
The article presents results of the survey of science and education employees. The main questions of the study were about what field of work the experts would advise their children and grandchildren to choose, and which of these fields would be most relevant (promising) for the younger generation in 5, 10, 15 and 20 years, and, in case of choosing science or engineering, which of the new specialties they would advise them and which research area would be relevant also in 5, 10, 15 and 20 years. The results of the survey showed that respondents prefer that their children and grandchildren would choose to work in the fields of science, healthcare, education, culture and art, although quite a large part of the answers indicate that they would also prefer their children to choose engineering. At the same time, financial activity took one of the last places, ahead only of trade and agriculture. The experts' answers were examined in different aspects — gender, territorial, etc. The chosen priorities reflect the respondents' hopes for triumph of justice and establishment of public understanding of the role of science, as they substantiate their answers by claiming that doing scientific research means the opportunity to benefit their country, as well as chosing culture, art, education, and armed forces as the fields of the future activity. The article points to a fairly high level of discrepancy between the preferences of those working in science, education and culture, on the one hand, and the opinions of the population as a whole, on the other.
