About project

The crisis associated with the COVID-19 epidemic is significantly different from the previous crises of 1998, 2008, 2014. The peculiarity of the crisis associated with the covid-19 epidemic is a strong contraction of the service sector (this did not happen in previous crises), concentrated mainly in large cities, a sharp decrease in tax revenues, etc. However, as one of the main experts in the regional development of Russia, N. Zubarevich said, "all Russian crises had different territorial projections, which is associated with the specifics of each crisis." It is planned to study these territorial projections of the covid-19 crisis as part of the announced project. In particular, the change in the structure of consumption of Russian households under the influence of the crisis in the regional context will be studied. The impact of the crisis on sectoral and occupational groups was heterogeneous, thus having a different impact on employment and income of the population. In particular, it practically did not affect state employees and workers in manufacturing, ICT and the financial sector, but was observed in construction, transport, trade and services, as well as in small and micro enterprises, self-employed and employed in the informal sector of the economy (Gimpelson 2021, Kapelyushnikov 2022). Important factors in maintaining the pace of economic development of the regions and supporting employment were the possibility of transforming jobs into remote (teleworkability), the requirements of the profession for direct personal interaction with customers and employees, as well as the degree of automation and the physical nature of labor. The activity within the framework of the NGO also pursues the task of assessing the impact of preventive measures to spread COVID-19 on labor productivity, employment and income of the population.

The project will be of an umbrella nature, within its framework it is planned to study:

1)     How has the consumption structure of Russian households changed in 2020 and 2021 compared to previous years

2)     Select groups of regions with similar changes

3)     Assess differences in employment in terms of the impact of preventive measures to spread COVID-19 on professional and industry groups;

4)     Assess differences in household income in terms of the impact of preventive measures to spread COVID-19 on households with different demographic, social and geographical characteristics;

5)     Identify groups of the population that have experienced the greatest impact of preventive measures to spread COVID-19 on income, and assess the degree of impact of the crisis;

6)     Identify industry groups that have experienced the greatest impact of COVID-19 preventive measures on productivity and assess the extent of the impact of the crisis;

The following hypotheses will be tested:

1)     The structure of household expenditures in 2020 and 2021 has changed compared to 2019.

2)     Changing the structure of spending in the Russian regions depends on the severity of restrictions during the pandemic

3)     The ability to work remotely allowed to maintain employment and incomes of the population;

4)     Individuals with a profession that allows teleworking were not only more protected in the labor market, but also more responsive to increased unemployment benefits and easier application conditions;

5)     Women more often than men left their jobs during the crisis period;

6)     The response to restrictive measures differs significantly from what was observed in the gender aspect in developed countries;

7)     Not only the sectoral affiliation of enterprises, but also geographical factors turned out to be important factors in changing labor productivity during the crisis.