RURAL LOCAL ECONOMY: EMPLOYMENT AND LABOR PRODUCTIVITY IN RURAL SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN THE TAMBOV REGION

Issue № 2, 2023, article № 9, pages 69-77

Language: Russian

Original language title: СЕЛЬСКАЯ ЛОКАЛЬНАЯ ЭКОНОМИКА: ЗАНЯТОСТЬ И ПРОИЗВОДИТЕЛЬНОСТЬ ТРУДА В МАЛЫХ И СРЕДНИХ ПРЕДПРИЯТИЯХ ТАМБОВСКОЙ ОБЛАСТИ

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Abstract: Small and medium enterprises (hereinafter referred to as SMEs) are an important part of the rural local economy. However, they are still little studied due to the difficulty in obtaining data. The article considers industry employ-ment and labor productivity in terms of revenue and profit from sales in rural and, for comparison, in urban SMEs of the Tambov region in 2018 and 2020 on SPARK data. This made it possible to draw conclusions about which sectors in the SMEs of the region create the main jobs, as well as intersectoral labor productivity, differences in this indica-tor in urban and rural SMEs of the same industries. It is concluded that in both years the main employment was provided by urban SMEs, while rural ones accounted for only a third of workers. Agriculture and manufacturing (mainly food) accumulated more than 70% of all employed in rural SMEs, construction, trade, transport and storage ac-counted for another 22% of the employed. In the city, employment in SMEs is more diversified. Rural SMEs in the region are on average larger than urban ones, mainly due to higher employment per enterprise in agriculture and construction. In terms of revenue per employee, urban SMEs are on average more productive than rural ones in almost all sectors, with the exception of manufacturing, although the gap has narrowed significantly in 2020 compared to 2018. The differences in this indicator are especially large in construction, professional and technical activities, administrative, hotel business and public catering. However, in terms of profit from sales per employee, rural SMEs outperform urban SMEs due to the greater weight of high-income agriculture in the structure, as well as the better performance of manufacturing industries.

Authors: Gataulina Ekaterina Aleksandrovna, SHishkina Ekaterina Alekseevna