SPATIAL FEATURES OF THE LABOR POTENTIAL DISTRIBUTION IN THE KALININGRAD REGION

Abstract

The Kaliningrad region is most susceptible to economic and geopolitical changes because of its exclaveposition. This study examines the spatial distribution of labor resources in the area. The relevance of the study is due tothe problem of ensuring balanced development of the region's territory and its economic security. The work uses knownindicators characterizing labor potential from different perspectives. To characterize the demographic component, theauthor uses the sex-age structure and the share of the working-age population; in addition, this study introduces the shareof residents born in the region (rootedness of the population) as a key indicator. The economic component is analyzedfrom the perspective of labor force participation and employment rate. The educational component is assessed throughthe share of the population with higher education and the number of educational institutions. The creative componentincludes the share of self-employed population. The migration component of the labor potential comprises the intensityof the migration balance of the working-age population. The main attention is paid to the cartographic display of theresearch results, which made it possible to identify spatial patterns of socio-economic processes in the Kaliningrad region.The study has shown that the labor potential is highly concentrated in the western part of the region – in Kaliningrad (thecore of the Kaliningrad agglomeration) and its closest satellites (Guryevsk, Zelenogradsk, Svetly). The municipalities thatare part of the agglomeration are most attractive for migration since the main economic, educational, innovative, andcreative potential of the region is concentrated here. This is facilitated by the flow of population within the region in twodirections: from east to west and from village to city. The east of the region is characterized by labor potential with a lowlevel of education; at the same time, its development is positively influenced by entrepreneurial activity in agriculture andthe educational infrastructure of secondary vocational education. Further concentration of the population in the regionalcenter creates a threat of exceeding the demographic capacity in the west of the region and increasing the demographicburden in the east.