Worker Flows in Russia

Abstract

This paper investigates worker flows in Russia. Information onelapsed durationsof job tenure from the 1994-1996 Russian Longitudinal MonitoringSurvey (RLMS)and fromretrospective work history responses to the Institute for LaborRelationsResearch (ISITO) 1998 household survey is used. Competing risksmodels fordurations of job tenure with multiple destination states areestimated. Patternsof transitions between sectors and to non-employment are identifiedfordifferent demographic groups. Rates of worker flows and direct job-to-jobtransitions are found to be very high in comparison with WesternEuropean andother transition countries. These results contradict the commonly-acceptedproposition that substantial declines in real wages have substitutedfor thereallocation of workers in Russia