Transition patterns in the Russian labor market: 1994-2006
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Transition from command to market economy caused significant reallocation of resources and, in particular, labor. Regular Russian statistical publications describe transition patterns in the labor market mainly in terms of observed stocks while flows that generate these stocks are severely understudied. Based on micro-level data from eleven rounds of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey covering years 1994-2006, we estimate labor market trajectories in Russia with a special attention to flows between state and private sector and upward and downward occupational mobility. Our findings confirm significant shedding of labor from the state sector throughout the period with the main flow being to jobs in the private sector. In addition, as transition proceeded, more graduates started their careers in the private sector or in self-employment as opposed to taking jobs in the state sector. We find evidence that self-employment and entrepreneurship served as a buffer in the period of financial crisis, thus, diminishing flow into unemployment. The transition-related relocation of from the state to private sector are especially pronounced among in mid- and low qualification jobs while highly qualified jobs in state sector served as a buffer in years of economic hardships in the mid 1990s.
RPRT
CEFIR Working Paper
Denisova, Irina
Eller, Marcus
Zhuravskaya, Ekaterina
2007
Center for Economic and Financial Research
Moscow
990