The NEET Youth in the Russian Labor Market

Abstract

Anna Zudina – PhD in Sociology, Research Fellow, Center for Labor Market Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics. Address: 20, Myasnitskaya St., Moscow, 101000, Russian Federation. E-mail: azudina@hse.ru

Citation: Zudina А. (2019) The NEET Youth in the Russian Labor Market. Mir Rossii, vol. 28, no 1, pp. 140–160 (in Russian). DOI: 10.17323/1811-038X-2019-28-1-140-160

NEET, or young people aged 15-24 who are Not in Employment, Education or Training deserve their special name in international statistics. They are cut off both from education
and the labor market, and will most likely face difficulties with further employment and inclusion into society in general. The present paper analyzes the scale, the dynamics and
the socio-demographic features of NEET in Russia using data from Labor Force Survey (LFS) data, 1995–2015, collected by the Federal State Statistics Service. The results indicate that, in the period analyzed, the share of NEET decreased significantly, which came as a result of the active involvement of youth in education. According to LFS, the share of NEET did not respond to any negative macroeconomic shocks, i.e. the crises of 2008–9 and 2015. However, NEET in Russia are consistently dominated by those whose relationship with the labor market is the weakest, i.e. those who are out of the labor force. The vast majority of unemployed NEETs have absolutely no labor market experience. The socio-demographic profile of NEET reveals that the likelihood of falling into this group is negatively associated with the level of education, and positively with the reducing employment opportunities in rural areas. The majority of unemployed NEETs have higher education, which suggests that further educational expansion might force an even greater share of young people into NEET.