Economic behavior models of the working youth

Abstract

By the analysis of the economic situation and financial practices, three models of the economic behavior of the working youth have been defined in the research, such as “patient silence”, “adaptive accommodation” and “active action”. To construct these models, theoretical approaches to the concept of “economic behavior” has been considered and the data of the empirical study conducted in 2018 in the Urals Federal District has been analyzed. The object of the mass survey was the working youth aged from 15 to 29 years old, living in the Urals Federal District. The sample is targeted, multistage, based on four objective criteria: age; gender; place of residence (city/village); employment (industry/service) (N = 1534). The study has shown that the overwhelming majority of the young laborers can be attributed to the least well-off part of the population, whose incomes do not exceed the poverty threshold (that corresponds to “patient silence” and “adaptive accommodation” models). Using wages as the basic financial resource at their main place of work, the youth cannot significantly improve their current financial situation and increase their incomes. An insufficient income level affects youth involvement in microcredit practices. The negative characteristics of the financial situation are most prominent among women, young people aged 15–19 years, service sector employees and rural areas residents. Potentially, only around 10 % of laboring youth can be referred to as applying the “active action” model of economic behavior. This fact shows the serious shortage of young active actors in the economy of our country.