Youth Unemployment in Russia: Scope and Issues

Victor Yu. Lyashok – Senior Researcher of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Candidate of Economic Sciences (Moscow, Russia). Е-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Young people survived the crisis of 2020 relatively well. The high unemployment rate involving the 15–24 year olds in Russia (15.5% in 2019 compared to 4.6% of unemployment as a whole) is explained by the calculation specifics of this indicator. The average time required to find a job among young people in Russia is significantly lower compared to other age groups, and is close to the developed countries. About half of young unemployed people in Russia are looking for a job less than three months: this indicator is significantly lower compared to the population of other age groups. The share of “discouraged” unemployed (i.e. those who failed to find a job and left the labor market) is comparable to the most prosperous European countries.

The article was prepared as part of the state research order of the RANEPA.

Key words: unemployment, youth unemployment, pandemic.

JEL-codes: J21, J63, J64.