Economic and social-management aspects of virtual labor relations of modern russian youth

Abstract

The article presents a comprehensive analysis of the research results (2012–2017) on the characteristics of virtual labor relations of youth in three regions of Russia. The development of virtual labor activity today has become a stable trend, both in the world and in Russia. The aim of the research is to substantiate the processes of institutionalization and professionalization of virtual labor relations of youth in the context of economic development and social management from the standpoint of modern sociological methodology. The research contributes to solving not only the scientific problem (limited scientific understanding of the phenomenon of virtual distance employment), but also social – improving the measures of social and economic policy in the field of job placement for unemployed youth. The methodology is represented by a mixed strategy, in the context of which the original mixing of the resources of structuralism, functionalism, institutionalism, quantitative and qualitative research approaches was made for the first time, which allowed to realize a comprehensive approach and to obtain information on economic and social-management problems, specifics and prospects of virtual labor practices of Russian youth, identify a number of distinctive parameters of virtual employment, determine the trends of its development in the regional context, implement data triangulation. When interpreting the empirical data of a questionnaire and interview, the results of a pool of socio-economic all-Russian studies (secondary analysis) were used, comparison with modern statistical data was carried out. The scientific and practical significance of the work consists in incrementing scientific knowledge in the field of labor economics, the sociology of labor, the development of methodology and methods of integrated research; the formation of the basis for optimizing the employment of unemployed citizens, the spread of Internet employment, forecasting its dynamics, reducing the level of socio-economic inequality in the country. The main findings of the research work are the following conclusions and provisions: youth virtual distance practices are characterized by an approximately equal degree of distribution in the Volga, Central and Siberian federal districts of Russia; significant problems in the implementation of these practices are represented by non-payment of remuneration by the employer, the need for independent accounting and tax reporting by the employee, poor quality of Internet services, a relatively high degree of need for «live communication»; the hypothesis about the positive impact of virtual labor relations on the socio-economic status of young people, the degree of social mobility of youth, overcoming social inequality is confirmed; in Russia, the system of professional education in teleworking, professional communities, virtual distance employment exchanges have been formed; virtual labor relations, thanks to their professionalization and institutionalization, have become a real employment tool for many representatives of Russian youth.

Keywords:

socio-economic analysis, virtual youth employment, virtual labor relations, telework, remote social and labor management, freelance 

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