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Polarization or upgrading? Evolution of Employment in Transitional Russia

https://doi.org/10.32609/0042-8736-2015-7-87-119

Abstract

This paper discusses the structural change in the Russian employment and explores whether the evolution of employment in 2000-2012 followed the scenario of progressive upgrading in job quality or brought about the polarization of jobs in terms of their quality. Jobs are defined here as occupation-industry cells and their quality is measured through relative earnings and education levels. Using detailed micro-data from a few complementary large scale surveys, we rank all jobs according to the earnings and educational criteria and divide these distributions into 5 quintiles. At the next stage, we explore dynamic changes in job quality and socio-demographic characteristics of workers in different quintiles. The paper rejects the polarization scenario and confirms the upgrading hypothesis.

About the Authors

V. Gimpelson
National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russia)
Russian Federation


R. Kapeliushnikov
National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russia); Institute of World Economy and International Relations, RAS (Moscow, Russia)
Russian Federation


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Review

For citations:


Gimpelson V., Kapeliushnikov R. Polarization or upgrading? Evolution of Employment in Transitional Russia. Voprosy Ekonomiki. 2015;(7):87-119. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.32609/0042-8736-2015-7-87-119

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ISSN 0042-8736 (Print)