On assessing the stability of the social and labor sphere in the Russian Federation in the context of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic

Abstract

As in the previous year, the social and labor situation in the country and conflict potential in the labor sphere continued to take shape under the influence of the specifics of the COVID-19 pandemic and the unstable global and domestic economic situation. Under these conditions, the key factors determining the formation of the social and labor situation in the country showed multidirectional dynamics: the labor force remained stable at 75.4 million people and was supported by the delayed effect of the pension reform and labor migration, against the backdrop of the ongoing demographic decline; the number of officially registered unemployed was steadily declining and the situation on the labor market returned to pre-pandemic indicators (the unemployment rate reached 4.4% and became lower than in 2019; the maximum unemployment rate during the pandemic was noted in August 2020 at 6.4%, when about 3.5 million citizens were registered as unemployed); the number of employees laid off from Russian enterprises (institutions) consistently exceeded the number of employees hired throughout the year, therefore, the number of full-time employees at enterprises continued to go down and reached the level of 32.3 million people (1.6 million people during the year); against the backdrop of a gradual recovery of the economy, the number of part-time workers decreased and by the end of the year stabilized at 4.3 million people; the number of registered self-employed workers more than doubled, and those working on the secondary employment basis and under independent contractor agreements increased to 1.5 million people; the total wages arrears to employees of Russian enterprises (institutions) steadily decreased and in the fourth quarter reached an annual minimum of 1.257 billion rubles (-27% during the year).