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(In)stability of the Employment Position of Economically (In)active Individuals in Russia

Elena V. Odintsova

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RAR (Research Article Report)

JEL J21, J6

https://doi.org/10.52180/1999-9836_2026_22_3_1_368_379

AUTHOR

Elena V. Odintsova

Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7906-8520

SPIN-code: 1866-4793

ResearcherID: U-7061-2019

FOR CITATION

Odintsova E.V. (In)stability of the Employment Position of Economically (In)active Individuals in Russia. Uroven' Zhizni Naseleniya Regionov Rossii=Living Standards of the Population in the Regions of Russia. 2026;22(3):368–379. https://doi.org/10.52180/1999-9836_2026_22_3_1_368_379 (In Russ.)

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the research presented in the article was to identify the (in)stability characteristics of the employment position of economically active and inactive individuals in Russia. Changes in the employment position and quality of employment of workers, identified in the sustainability – precarity paradigm based on relevant indicators, were tracked over the period 2014–2023, comparing the situation in the «baseline» year of 2023, which represents the current situation, with the «reference» year of 2014. Based on the microdata of the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey – Higher School of Economics (RLMS-HSE), the following groups were considered, reflecting the existing employment position and quality of employment: I. Employees in organizations whose employment is characterized as: (1.1) sustainable, (1.2) insecure, (1.3) not ensuring economic sustainability of households, and (1.4) precarious; II. Employees not in organizations (potentially precarious employment); III. Unemployed (temporarily unemployed, an extreme form of precarious employment); IV. Persons outside the economic activity. The scale of these enlarged groups of the economically (non)active population in 2023, the (non)stability of the positioning in these groups relative to 2014, and the movements between groups with different employment position and quality of employment have been determined. It was found that 59.3% of those who were economically active and 29.9% of those who were economically inactive in 2023 had unstable employment position compared to 2014. However, most of those with unstable employment position experienced changes within the «vulnerability contour», which refers to transitions between low-quality employment segments, including precarious employment, temporary unemployment (an extreme form of precarious employment), and economic inactivity.

KEYWORDS

employment position, quality of employment, instability, unsustainability (precarity), economic activity, employment, unemployment, economic inactivity

INFORMATION ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elena V. Odintsova

PhD in Economics, Leading Researcher, Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

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