RURAL UNEMPLOYMENT IN RUSSIA: REASONS AND REGULATION MECHANISM

Abstract

Against the background of dynamically developing agriculture, Russia still has not been able to achieve sustainable development of rural territories. One of the key problems holding back movement in this direction is unemployment. Each economic system has its own characteristics of the formation of the labor market, which are determined by many endogenous factors. In this article, the authors investigate the features of the course of socio-economic processes in the labor market of rural areas. It is stated that the modern transformation of the agricultural sector is accompanied by an increase in labor productivity based on the improvement of the technological level. At the same time, the processes of labor force release and growth of forced unemployment in rural areas are taking place. The economically active population, released as a result of ongoing processes, migrates, being "squeezed out" to more prosperous regions in terms of job availability, most often to urban areas. A significant gap between total and registered unemployment, indicating the low efficiency of the functioning of labor market institutions, is observed. Under these conditions, the main requirement for the implementation of any economic projects in the countryside should be the provision of employment for the population. Labor market regulation is possible through the implementation of passive and active government policy measures. Within the framework of a passive policy, it is proposed to protect people affected by unemployment. An active policy should be aimed at regulating the level and duration of unemployment: expanding agricultural production, including labor-intensive one, by various agribusiness entities; accelerating the rate of the diversification of the rural economy; developing a mechanism to stimulate an interest in creating new jobs; solving the problems of accessibility of state employment services for rural residents, and increasing their efficiency. The problem of rational employment of the rural population can be solved only by implementing consistent economic transformations, taking into account the particularities of the formation of the labor market in rural areas.