ЕКОНОМІЧНІ ФАКТОРИ РЕГІОНАЛЬНОЇ ДИФЕРЕНЦІАЦІЇ БЕЗРОБІТТЯ ТА МІГРАЦІЙНИХ НАМІРІВ МОЛОДІ В УКРАЇНІ

Abstract

Migration intentions of young people are related to the youth labour market situation, incomes, investment attractiveness and innovations. Such economic factors, in turn, determine the situation on regional labour markets. Labour and educational migration of young people threaten to lose the working-age high-skilled population, and therefore a further demographic crisis, shortage of skilled labour and qualified personnel in the regional labour markets in Ukraine. This article discusses the study results of economic factors of spatial variation of young people’s unemployment in Ukraine in the context of their migration intentions. The study is based on the State Statistics Service of Ukraine official data, in particular, youth unemployment rate, average monthly wages, incomes and expenses per capita, their structure, and investments in fixed assets per capita by regions of Ukraine during 2000- 2018. Using the rank method and mapping, Ukraine’s regions were classified by the income levels and investments in fixed assets per capita. The city of Kyiv and the metropolitan region are invariably leaders in terms of both investment performance and income and expenditure. Steadily lagging behind in 2001-2018 were the western Ukrainian regions – Rivne, Ternopil, Chernivtsi, and Zakarpattia oblasts. A correlation analysis revealed the youth unemployment rates’ dependence from the investment attractiveness and financial capability (including average monthly wages, incomes and expenses per capita) in Ukraine. However, such dependence is characterized by significant regional differences, which cannot be explained by the level of development, location or specialization of regions. It was determined that the influence of economic factors is more complicated and possibly is associated with specific local authorities’ strategies to combat youth unemployment. Therefore, even an increase in investment attractiveness and financial capability of the population does not guarantee an overcoming or reducing of young people outflow from the country.