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Macroeconomic and structural properties of the Russian labor market: A cross-country comparison

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  • Gurvich, Evsey
  • Vakulenko, Elena

Abstract

We suggest a new way to identify salient features of the Russian labor market. Parameters of basic macroeconomic models pertinent to the Russian labor market are compared to a sample of other countries. We find that estimated values of Okun's coefficient and the elasticity of real wages to labor productivity in Russia are typical for emerging markets. What really distinguishes the labor market is that the elasticity of real wages relative to unemployment in Russia is very high by international standards. The overall conclusion is that the Russian labor market can be characterized by a combination of serious structural problems (such as low employee mobility, the significant size of the shadow sector, etc.) and solid macroeconomic performance, verified by the persistently low rate of unemployment in recent years.

Suggested Citation

  • Gurvich, Evsey & Vakulenko, Elena, 2017. "Macroeconomic and structural properties of the Russian labor market: A cross-country comparison," Russian Journal of Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 411-424.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rujoec:v:3:y:2017:i:4:p:411-424
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ruje.2017.12.006
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    Cited by:

    1. David Aristei & Cristiano Perugini, 2022. "Credit and income mobility in Russia," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 20(3), pages 639-669, September.
    2. Lara Lebedinski & Cristiano Perugini & Marko Vladisavljević, 2023. "Child penalty in Russia: evidence from an event study," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 173-215, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    E24; J61; O57; Russian labor market; cross-country comparative analysis; macroeconomic models; migration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries

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