THE LABOR MARKET IN THE RUSSIAN ARCTIC IN THE ERA OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

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Marina N. Kuznetsova

Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M. V. Lomonosov, Arkhangelsk, Russia, m.kuznetsova@narfu.ru, ORCID 0000-0003-4242-4488

Abstract. For territorial development, it is important to study the labor market situation and conduct a comprehensive analysis of its status. Changes in the labor market influence the efficiency and competitiveness of regions. The Russian Arctic is of particular strategic importance in the context of modern geopolitical and geoeconomic challenges posed by its resource potential, the growing transport and logistics role of the Northern Sea Route as an alternative global shipping corridor, and national security considerations. This article examines nine regions that are fully or partially classified as the Russian Arctic. The purpose of the study is to assess the impact of regional digitalization levels on labor market indicators in the Russian Arctic based on a new methodological approach. The study utilizes content analysis of academic literature, methods of economic analysis for assessing labor market conditions, and an original methodology for calculating a labor market index using integral and index-based approaches. This enables a comprehensive examination of the research question.  The scientific novelty of the study lies in substantiating the need to incorporate digitalization indicators into methodologies for assessing territorial labor markets. Based on the results, the regions were classified into two groups according to their full or partial inclusion in the Russian Arctic, and their key characteristics were identified. The analysis shows that Arctic regions demonstrate high to medium levels of digital development, with a general emphasis on digital transformation processes. Future research directions include expanding the list of digitalization indicators, testing the methodology using statistical data from Russia’s federal districts, and conducting comparative analyses to identify territorial specificities and to rank regions according to their digital development levels.

Keywords: labor market, human resources, transformation, digitalization, methods, region, Russian Arctic

For citation: Kuznetsova M. N. The labor market in the Russian Arctic in the era of digital transformation.  Sever i rynok: formirovanie ekonomicheskogo poryadka [The North and the Market: Forming the Economic Order], 2026,  no. 2, pp. 112–127. doi:10.37614/2220-802X.2.2026.92.008.

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