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Работающая молодежь Дальнего Востока: актуальный портрет и жизненные траектории. Современная аналитика образования № 6 (89)
The demographic and socio-economic challenges confronting the Russian Far East underscore the urgent need for systemic policy measures that create enabling conditions for youth self-realization in the macroregion and support the formation of positive educational and career trajectories. Addressing this imperative demands a sophisticated understanding of the key obstacles and viable policy levers, grounded in rigorous empirical evidence. This report contributes to the evidence-based policy discourse on youth in employment as a strategic element for the sustainable development of the Russian Far East. The study’s empirical foundation comprises aggregated official statistics on socio-demographic characteristics of youth in employment across the Far Eastern Federal District, complemented by data from a comprehensive sociological survey conducted in 2025 by researchers from the National Research University Higher School of Economics and Pacific National University. The principal aim was to delineate the barriers to retaining and attracting young people in the region and to identify factors that could enhance the quality of their professional opportunities. Our analysis addresses multiple dimensions of working youth’s lives, including levels of satisfaction with current employment, retrospective evaluation of educational quality and relevance, orientations toward family life, and fertility intentions. The findings reveal substantial heterogeneity within the cohort of youth in employment. In addition to regionally specific patterns, socio-economic status and gender emerge as salient axes of differentiation—highlighting the critical need for targeted support interventions, particularly for those from lower-income strata and for women, especially with childcare responsibilities.
The study also underscores the pivotal role of physical infrastructure in both urban and rural areas. Poor infrastructure for work and leisure frequently serves as a push factor driving youth outmigration and deters relocation to the macroregion from other areas. Strengthening the alignment between educational institutions and the regional labor market emerges as a further policy priority. Building effective bridges between these domains is essential not only for shaping educational and professional trajectories but also for facilitating coherent life-course pathways integrating education and employment.
