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Research Programs / Projects

Labor Markets for Alternative Civilian Service

Head: Cand.Sc. T. Maleva

Duration: June 2002 - January 2003

Support: Moscow Public Science Foundation grant # 003/4-04 (funded by USAID); Inter-Regional Charity Foundation "Sozidanie" grant # 2905/02/ΤΡ-

Project Participants: Cand.Sc. L.N. Ovcharova, A.I. Pishnyak, Cand.Sc. O.V. Sinyavskaya, Dr.Sc. S.N. Smirnov, Dr.Sc. N.M. Davydova, Cand.Sc. L.B. Kosova, Cand.Sc. A.G. Levinson

Partners: Inter-Regional Charity Foundation "Sozidanie", Ministry of Labor and Social Development of the Russian Federation, Employment Center of the city of Vladimir, Employment Department of the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation for the Leningrad region

Objective. In Summer 2002, the Law on Alternative Civilian Service was passed. However, economic and labor aspects of the alternative civilian service (ACS) still remain unclear. The task of the project was to analyze the social and economic situation at the RF labor markets to assess their preparedness for the introduction of the ACS and to evaluate the scale and suggest a distribution of the probable financial burden between economic agents involved in the ACS.

Main results:

Sociological research revealed that labor supply at the ACS labor market as defined in the Law would not exceed 4.1 thousand people. Whereas, according to our economic and statistical estimations, the demand for low-skilled workers would amount to 15 thousand people. If ACS would be confined to the social sphere, then

• taking into account its length (4 years) and extraterritorial requirements, the conscripts would fill in less than one third of the vacancies available in the social sphere;
  
  
• should the length of service be reduced to 3 years and extraterritorial requirements remain unchanged, the conscripts would occupy a little more than a half of the vacancies available in the social sphere;
  
  
• should the length of service remain 4 years, but the extraterritorial requirements be called off, the number of those willing to be conscripted into the ACS would 3.5 times exceed the number of vacancies;
  
  
• should both the length of service be reduced to 3 years and extraterritorial requirements be called off, the supply of conscripts would 6 times exceed the demand.

A balance at the labor market would be possible, if the ACS extraterritorial requirements are called off and the sphere of service is extended to include the municipal economy. The norm on the extraterritorial character of the ACS is not imperative and contains the "as a rule" reservation, allowing thus for the flexible implementation of this norm. And this may be an opportunity to mitigate the discrepancies at the ACS labor markets. This could be a way out for the state to solve the serious problem of the chronic deficit of labor power at socially useful and important positions. If this chance is not taken advantage of, the Law on Alternative Civilian Service is threatened with turning into a 'law of missed chances'.

The results of the research were submitted to the Ministry of Labor and Social Development of the Russian Federation, Department of Social Development of the Office of the Government of the Russian Federation, and a number of social organizations and movements. The results were referred to at the hearings of the issue at the State Duma. The project was presented at academic conferences and workshops (the Toliatti Dialog, a workshop at the IISP, a conference by the Moscow Public Science Foundation, a conference on ACS introduction in Kaluga).

The results of the project are summarized in the brochure:
Labor Markets for Alternative Civilian Service. WP/2003/01 (IISP Working Papers Series) / By Maleva, T. (head), L. Ovcharova, A. Pishnyak, O. Sinyavskaya, and S. Smirnov. Moscow: Signal, 2003. 110 p.

See also an English summary of the project