Latova N. Characteristics of the human capital of Russian workers and workers of other countries

Abstract

The author deal with the issue of the quality of the human capital of workers in modern Russia in comparison with the similar characteristics of workers in eight foreign countries. The comparative analysis is based on the data of the International Social Research Program ISSP «Labor Activity», 2015 (selection of 1475 workers occupied on production, i.e. not less than 150people in each country). In addition to the database for 2015, the data on similar ISSP studies for 2005 and 1997 were used. Identification of the professional status was carried out on the basis of the classifier ISC0-08. The final indicator of the human capital demonstrates a significant lag in the human capital of the Russian workers from similar groups of workers in developed foreign countries. Though the Russian workers have a good general and specific human capital, they lack knowledge renewal. In Russia training is still perceived as a stage of growing up, but not as a normal way of life for workers. Though the dynamics for the period 2005-2015 shows positive changes in the human capital of the Russian workers, but foreign countries were on the march, therefore the gap between the human capital of the Russian workers and similar groups of workers in foreign countries remained. The comparison of the dynamics of the human capital of workers in Norway and Venezuela revealed two different approaches to the «resource curse» which is also relevant for Russia. The first is the Norwegian way with orientation to the future and understanding of need to invest in the programs to stimulate the development of the human capital. The second is the Venezuelan way with social programs that in the first place ensure current consumption and do not form the population's need for the development of their labor resources.