Human capital as an effective resource contributing to the region's entry into the trajectory of balanced development

Abstract

This study is devoted to the problem of ensuring a balanced innovative development of the region in the current conditions of digitalization based on the development of the most important resource of the economy human capital. The subject of the study is the quality of human capital on the example of the selected region, as well as organizational and economic relations in terms of human capital management, aimed at achieving a balance in the development of the region. The balanced economic development of the region largely depends on the factors of interest of the economic entities themselves, both moral and material, in achieving an effective result. The main component of economic growth aimed at achieving balanced development is the human resource. Achieving a balanced development in the production, economic and environmental spheres is impossible without achieving a balance in the social aspect, where human capital occupies a key place. Considering a person as the most important factor in achieving a balanced regional development, it is necessary to identify indicators of the balanced development of human capital itself. This study assessed the quality of human capital on the example of the Russian region, the Orenburg region, from the standpoint of balance. The assessment is based on a study of three components: standard of living, education and length of years. Based on the results of the assessment, imbalances in the development of the constituent parts of the human potential of the Orenburg region were revealed: high indicators of income and education indices and a low index of longevity. The low index of longevity is explained by the presence of an imbalance in the level of development of medicine and the unhealthy lifestyle of the population of the region, which is influenced by economic and environmental components, due to the fact that the Orenburg region is an export raw material region. The study analyzed the human development indices of the Orenburg region in comparison with other regions of the Volga Federal District of Russia, established a downward trend in this indicator, which negatively affects economic development indicators and which, of course, was affected by the situation with the Covid-19 pandemic, noted the role of the influence of digital and virtual space on the level of development of human capital in the region under study, the following problems are highlighted: digital inequality, departmental nature of the introduction of information and communication technologies, insufficient development of telecommunications infrastructure in rural areas, which indicates a lack of balance in the development of information literacy of society in a digital economy. Theresults of the study are of theoretical and practical significance for the regional authorities in terms of developing strategic and policy documents in the field of economics, education, healthcare, aimed at improving the welfare of the population, which will create the necessary prerequisites for the formation of high-quality human capital in the region and the effective use of this resource. In the context of digital integration, when a person serves as a leading link, we consider it necessary to develop a mechanism for regulating a balanced system of health and education indicators by the regional authorities, which, in general, will help the region to reach a common trajectory of balanced innovative development.