Does location affect employment? Evidence from the high north of Russia

Local labour markets within one country can be characterized by different outcomes because of their geographical and economic peculiarities. The unique features of the labour markets of the High North regions of Russia include compensative differentials and specific labour protection legislation together with the specific geographical characteristics. The aim of the paper is to investigate what peculiarities arise in employment as a result of location in the areas of the High North of Russia. Using aggregate regional data for the northern regions of Russia from 2005 to 2014 we estimated the dynamic fixed effects models for the number of employees and net migration. It was discovered that geographical characteristics affect employment in the High North of Russia more than wages. Labour supply exceeds labour demand in the northern regions of Russia because of strong positive wage elasticity of net migration. We can surmise that regulation of wages and migration should be a part of common economic policy in the High North regions of Russia

Wages’ Impact on Employment in the Extreme North of Russia

The article examines the wages’ impact on employment in the Extreme North of Russia. The paper highlights the unique features of the labor markets of the Extreme North, which could influence on the labor supply and demand. Using the aggregate regional data from 2005 to 2013 the author estimates fixed effects models with the independent variables such as the number of employed and unemployed and migration balance. The study shows that in the Extreme North of Russia wages significantly affect not only the number of employed, but also the number of unemployed and migrant workers. The paper also reveals that the labor supply exceeds its demand and migration plays a key role in balancing the labor markets of the mentioned territorie

The impact of wages in the European part of Russia on migration in the far north

© National Research University Higher School of Economics. This article analyzes the population decline in the Russian North associated with the outmigration of the labor force. First, we review previous empirical studies and show that migration to the North was previously driven by labor demand in the mining and extractive industries. However, higher economic development in the European part of Russia might also have had an impact on the migration to the Far North. In particular, we hypothesize that rising wages in the European part of Russia negatively affected such migration. We use official panel statistics on 65 Russian regions (53 in the European part and 12 in the Far North) over the period 2010-2017 and test this conjecture econometrically by estimating a fixed-effects model with a spatial lag. The model accounts for regional economic development, labor market characteristics, macroeconomic shocks, labor force education and other relevant parameters. We show that out-migration from the Far North was positively associated with increasing wages in the European part of Russia. However, we also find that increasing wages in some regions of the North partly counteracted this process. We conclude with policy implications for the development of the Arctic zone, such as increasing state support to boost the demand for labor in the Northern regions

Labour demand and labour supply in the regions of Russia: regression analysis

Различия в функционировании региональных рынков объясняются неоднородностью социально-экономического развития регионов, что обусловливает актуальность проведения эмпирических исследований по этой тематике. В предлагаемой статье проведен регрессионный анализ факторов, влияющих на формирование спроса и предложения труда в субъектах РФ. На основе анализа теории, подходов, используемых другими авторами, а также анализа некоторых показателей экономического развития регионов поясняется выбор регрессоров, включаемых в оцениваемые уравнения. Результаты исследования показали, что на спрос на труд, измеренный через численность занятых, влияют факторы, определяющие структуру региональной экономики. Предложение труда, оцененное через численность экономически активного населения, в наибольшей степени зависит от демографических факторов. В статье дано объяснение такого влияния факторов на численность занятых и экономически активного населения в регионах, приведены выводы относительно особенностей функционирования региональных рынков труда в России, объясняемых этими факторами.The differences in the functioning of the regional markets are explained by the heterogeneity of socio-economic development of the regions which makes the empirical research on this topic relevant. In this paper we present the results of the regression analysis of the factors that have a certain impact on the labour supply and labour demand in the subjects of the Russian Federation. The choice of variables is based on the analysis of the theoretical framework as well is on the analysis of some indicators of regional economic development. Our results show that the labour demand measured by the number of employees is effected by the factors determining the structure of the regional economy. At the same time the labour supply as estimated by the number of regional labour force depends on the demographic factors. The article provides a study of the impact of the above-mentioned factors on the number of employees and the labour force in the regions. Certain conclusions are made as for the functioning of the regional labour markets in Russia due to these factors