This paper reveals the contents of the category of «regional industry-specific shift» by which, unlike existing treatments, a qualitative change in the sectoral structure of the region, leading to increase or decrease of its production specialization is meant. A methodical approach is proposed for the delineation of the categories of «regional industry shift» and «regional industrial change», based on the use of criterion interval averages of industry changes. This indicator reflects the transition «to regional industry changes» in the «regional industry shift». A method for evaluation of regional industrial structure and typology of Russian regions, depending on changes in industrial specialization, was elaborated. The paper presents the criteria of monospecialization and polyspecialization of the region, using which the subjects of the Russian Federation and distributed to monospecialized and polyspecialized. A comparison of monospecialized and polyspecialized regions validated the dependence of economic development entities of the Russian Federation on the territory of the diversified industrial structure. An innovation is the author's proposal for the development of measures of structural policy in the monospecialized regions of Russia, differentiated according to the identified trends in the manufacturing field in the region.
