Structural imbalances as a key factor of unemployment in the Russian labor market

In recent years, the problems of the Russian labor market, especially the scale and characteristics of youth unemployment, get very emotional and negative coverage in the scientific and journalistic discourses. The authors seek to show without any emotional evaluations what are the objective macroeconomic causes of the current situation with unemployment, especially youth unemployment. First, the authors identify the main challenges the labor market faces today in terms of the interaction of its key actors (workers, owners of the means of production, educational institutions and various intermediaries, including the state regulating the features of labor recruitment). Second, the article shows the main trends of the last decade that change the structure of employment of the economically active population. Third, the authors name the basic structural imbalances in the Russian labor market, primarily structural and professional imbalance between the demand for labor, the demand for vocational training and offer of educational services, which is quite evident, albeit in different ways, in all spheres of the economy. Fourth, the article describes the specific features of the youth labor market as both affected and contributing to the structural imbalances. Finally, the authors propose a methodology of macroeconomic forecasting that may reduce the problems the Russian society faces in the field of employment.