Digital skills supply and demand on the Russia regional labor markets

Abstract

The digital transformation has a significant impact on labor resources development, leading to a change in the skills types that are in demand and offered in the labor market. Due to the spatial heterogeneity of the Russian economy, the digital skills of the population in different regions have significant differences, which acts as a limitation of labor mobility, reduces the efficiency of using human potential and requires the development of inclusive regulatory measures. The study purpose is to assess the current spatial differentiation of the digital skills of the workforce, the ratio of their market demand and supply, as well as to propose appropriate measures to improve the efficiency of the regional labor market. A quantitative assessment of the demand of employers for workforce digital competencies in the regional labor markets was obtained on the basis of an analysis of the requirements for applicants presented in the unified database of vacancies in Russia, their further automated processing and ranking. The corresponding quantitative assessment of the market supply of digital competencies of the workforce was obtained using the hierarchical data clustering. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the identification the imbalance between the level of workforce digital skills development in Russian regions and the needs of regional labor markets. The practical significance of the study results lies in substantiating the policy of workforce digital skills inclusive development for each region, which should include corporate strategies for the development of digital competencies of both employed workers and potential job seekers.