LABOR RESOURCE CHALLENGES: DEFICITS, STRUCTURAL SHIFTS, PARADOXES OF AGING
Authors:   Voronezh State University, Voronezh, Russia, Kolesnikova O.A. 
Published: June 2022

The subject of the study is the state and trends in the structure and number of labor resources in modern Russia. The paper aims to analyze the main trends in the development of labor resources based on an assessment of their reproduction and taking into account global trends. The relevance of the study is due to the growing importance of studying the structure and dynamics of the number of labor resources and the urgent need to change methodological approaches to the organization of statistical observations in this area. The scientific novelty consists in the proven eclecticism of the existing accounting system, which in some cases leads to distortion of the results of labor force surveys; the reasoning is based on a generalization of various sources of statistical information that formed the empirical basis of the study. The system classification of various categories of the population proposed by the authors as the basis of labor resources can become the basis for updating the methodology for conducting such surveys. The authors use the following research methods: analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, systematization, and modeling. In the course of the study, the authors obtained the following results. Promising strategic directions for regulating labor resources have been outlined to support positive transformations in the labor market. The study revealed the contradiction between the need to expand the country's labor resources at the expense of older people who retain their ability to work, and the lack of conditions for the use of their labor. The study shows that it is necessary to consider the impact of such a significant and so far little taken into account factor as the coronavirus pandemic on labor resources. The authors substantiate the most pressing problems of the formation and use of labor resources in modern Russia. It is argued that there has been a decrease in the importance of the indicator of labor resources in the analysis and forecasting of economic development, it is difficult to track its structure and dynamics, to identify sources of growth. The reduction in the number and deterioration of the qualitative structure of labor resources occurs against the background of an increase in the economically inactive part of the population. There is a growing discrepancy between the professional and qualification structure of labor resources and the new needs of the labor market. There is a growing threat of underutilization of the available labor force with a constant shortage of personnel. The study showed that one of the most acute problems of the Russian labor market is the aging of labor resources. The necessity of returning the category and indicator of labor resources to a full-fledged high role in ensuring the development of the modern economy is proved. The dominant directions of prospective studies of labor resources are determined. The authors come to the conclusion that it is necessary to make changes to the methodology and tools of statistical surveys of the labor resources, aimed, among other things, at providing statistical opportunities for accounting and analyzing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the structure and dynamics of the labor resources.