Continuity and Change of the Transition from School to Work of Russian Men and Women, 1966 to 2005

Christoph Buehler, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
Dirk Konietzka, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

The transition from a planned to a market economy has fundamentally affected individual employment careers in Russia. However, some institutions, like the educational system, remained more or less constant, although individuals have now more freedom to choose their schooling. Therefore, the question arises how the transition from school to work has developed for men and women since the 1990s and how much it differs from transitions in Soviet times. Answers are given by a new data set about education and employment biographies of 6,455 Russian males and females born 1948 to 1987. First results show that the early careers of men and women have changed in many respects after 1991, but the entry into the labor market tends to be unexpectedly stable. Moreover, tendencies of postponed entries into the labor market or shorter employment durations are similar to observations in many Western European countries during the last two decades.