Labor Mobility as an Indicator of Spatial Development of the Moscow Urban Agglomeration

Based on mobile network operator data, the territorial distribution and scale of various types of spatial labor mobility within the Moscow urban agglomeration were assessed. The emphasis is on daily and weekly pendulum labor migrations; otkhodniks and remotely employed citizens are also considered. It was revealed that a significant part of Moscow oblast is drawn into the labor market of the capital urban agglomeration through not daily, but weekly and longer pendulum correspondence (pendulum migration). In fact, the territory functionally connected to Moscow by the daily labor rhythm covers the zone only at a distance of up to 30−40 km from the Moscow Ring Road (MKAD). Consideration of the nature of labor movements of residents of several large centers situated on the leningradskoe (along eponymous railway and highway) direction at different distances from Moscow showed that as residents need to move beyond the 40th km from the Moscow Ring Road, their orientation towards local labor markets, as well as extended cycles of pendulum labor correspondence—semi-otkhnichestvo, gradually gain an advantage over daily pendulum movements. Despite the fact that full-fledged otkhodnichestvo is less common among residents of Moscow oblast than semi-otkhodnichestvo, its role in the urban agglomeration is enormous. The number of otkhodniks working in the capital agglomeration is close to the number of semi-otkhodniks (at least 0.7 mln people), while their collection area is much wider than the boundaries of the agglomeration system and covers not only the regions neighboring Moscow oblast, but also most of federal subjects of Central and Southern Russia, as well as the Volga Region. In total, the number of citizens interacting with the capital agglomeration in extended work cycles is comparable to daily pendulum migrations to the capital (1.2–1.5 mln people), with another approximately 0.7–0.9 mln people employed remotely in the capital’s labor market. The proposed methodology for comprehensive consideration of the hierarchy of labor connections can be used for further integral analysis of the polyhierarchical system of pendulum labor migrations in the capital and other aurban gglomerations.