In the transition to a market economy, the Russian workforce underwent a wrenching period of change, with excess supply of some industrial skills coexisting with reports of skill shortages by many enterprises. This paper uses data from the Russia Investment Climate Survey (ICS) and related local...

To be competitive, firms have to maintain level and composition of workforce they consider optimal given utilized technology and expected output. The paper discusses what types of firms are unable to keep optimal employment, and why. Do firms still report excess of labor or do they face labor...

The efficiency of the labour market critically depends on the design of its institutions with employment protection legislation (EPL) playing a special role here. However, since formal laws can be observed or ignored to varying degrees, the actual enforcement regime shapes incentives and...

The paper provides a comprehensive assessment of quantitative and qualitative characteristics of human capital accumulated by the Russian economy. Using the cross-country perspective it investigates both educational attainment and quality of education of the Russian workforce. Labor market...

The paper examines a problem of legitimization of the privatization's outcomes in Russia and provides a critical appraisal of various political proposals for its resolution. The analysis proceeds from a distinction between two different types of ownership illegitimacy - "specified" and...