Precariat and higher education

Abstract

Objective: to analyze institutional changes in higher education which form the modern labor market; to identify the factors of forming precariat with higher education.Methods: econometric modeling (logit- and probit regression models).Results: precariat and its institutionalized forms are an important factor of socio-economic development. The phenomenon of precariat makes researchers in social sciences change approaches to the analysis of employment and changes in working conditions, and rethink the traditional models associated with labor relations, both in economic theory and in sociology. The paper identifies the main factors of precariatization of labor resources, including the growth of informal employment, the development of technology, the decline in the role of trade unions, as well as the policy of companies to reduce costs and transfer them to employees. In the context of the analyzed scientific works in the modern Western and Russian discourse, it is also determined that precariat is also formed under negative trends in higher education, such as the bureaucratization of educational processes, leading to a shift of values from professionalism to the achievement of performance indicators of educational institutions. It is found that precariatization trends also include normalization of unstable work, marketization and introduction of competitive mechanisms in the public sector. The main reasons are determined which hinder the effective balance in the labor market between the needs of employers and the distribution of budget places. Based on econometric modeling and determining the main factors which affect the probability of entering the group of precariates with higher edu- cation (GRP per capita; unemployment rate, type of settlement, as well as gender, marital status, children under 18 years of age and work experience), the authors identified those which best reflect the probability of entering the group of precariates. Scientific novelty: consists in identifying the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of precarization in Russia in the context of technological and institutional changes, as well as in assessing the impact of the identified factors on the prob- ability of entering the group of precariat with higher education.

Keywords

• socio-economic aspects of higher education development
• sphere of higher education
• precariat
• institutional changes
• labor market
• socio-economic policy