Rural labor market in Russian regions: current state and scale of differentiation

Issue № 7, 2026, article № 9, pages 94-105

Language: Russian

Original language title: СЕЛЬСКИЙ РЫНОК ТРУДА В РЕГИОНАХ РОССИИ: СОВРЕМЕННОЕ СОСТОЯНИЕ И МАСШТАБ ДИФФЕРЕНЦИАЦИИ

Keywords: LABOR MARKET, RURAL LABOR MARKET, RURAL AREAS, REGIONAL DIFFERENTIATION, PERSONNEL NEEDS, AGRICULTURAL MARKET

Abstract: The labor market in rural areas is changing under the influence of technological transformations taking place in the agricultural industry. As a result, the structure of the rural economy is changing: the share of the rural population engaged in agriculture is decreasing, and the share of those employed in non-agricultural activities is growing. In the rural labor market, an imbalance was noted due to the vocational and qualification mismatch between the demand for labor and its supply in the agricultural sector. In the presence of a shortage of personnel in the agro-industrial complex (AIC) of Russia, rural employment is declining. The study showed that the rural labor market in the regions of Russia is significantly differentiated by such indicators as: economic activity of the rural population, employment rate, unemployment rate, average wages in agriculture, etc. In a number of regions of the country, with high wages in agriculture, there is an acute shortage of personnel in the agro-industrial complex. This indicates that the key mechanism of market regulation of the labor market, the price of labor, does not always work. In problem regions, on the contrary, the rural labor market has a low level of employment, high unemployment and low wages in agriculture, which is associated with poor development of the rural economy and lack of competition among employers for labor. Significant regional differentiation of rural labor markets requires improving the mechanisms of their state regulation, taking into account the characteristics of individual regions. The work proposes key tools for the mechanism of state regulation of the provision of personnel for the agro-industrial complex, which will reduce the personnel need for qualified workers.

Authors: Miroshnichenko Tatiana Aleksandrovna