Central Bank analysts: economic restructuring may be constrained by low mobility in the labor market

Low labor mobility can hold back the speed of economic restructuring. To overcome the negative effects in the country, an active policy is needed to increase sectoral and regional mobility. This is stated in bulletin Department of Research and Forecasting of the Bank of Russia, the opinion of analysts may not coincide with the official position of the Central Bank.

According to analysts, during periods of adaptation to crisis situations, the Russian market is characterized by relative rigidity with low inter-industry and inter-regional mobility and growing part-time employment. “Increasing labor mobility takes a long time, which may become one of the factors slowing down the rate of economic restructuring,” the bulletin says.

According to analysts, in order to gradually increase labor mobility, it is possible to abandon the artificial maintenance of employment in industries where there is a structural decline in demand for products. At the same time, it is necessary to stimulate employment in industries that can become drivers of economic growth in the face of change.

Also, according to analysts, the creation of opportunities for retraining and learning new professions. “Having the opportunity to acquire the right skills and knowledge or update old ones can increase the effectiveness of the selection of new personnel and encourage employees to move to other companies,” the bulletin says.

Analysts also note the need to develop the rental housing market, since one of the obstacles to moving to another region for a new job is the difficulty in finding new housing.

Central Bank analysts believe that the situation on the labor market will limit the speed of the structural transformation of the Russian economy for a long time to come. They note that the implementation of their proposed measures and the manifestation of their effect on the labor market will take time.

What is happening in the labor market in Russia – in the material “Kommersant” “Young people are in short supply”.

Olesya Pavlenko