Discrete Present, Continuous past, and Active Future of the Labor Market in Khakassia

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of perceptions of the labor market by employers and civil servants responsible for solving personnel problems in the region. Based on the reconstruction of the narrative within expert interviews conducted in 2024 in the Republic of Khakassia, three components of the conversation about the personnel shortage are identified: discrete present, continuous past, and active future. The discrete present describes the situation of personnel shortage, which is recognized by all informants; the continuous past reveals the complex of reasons that caused the shortage; the active future contains forecasts and sets of necessary actions to overcome it. It is concluded that one of the most urgent solutions is the normative consolidation of space for economic entities and government officials at the regional level to implement their actorship. Only by encouraging the initiative of regional actors in developing solutions to personnel problems, the criticality of incoming orders, autonomy in their implementation while maintaining responsibility does it become possible to take into account regional specifics and most effectively adapt general directives to local conditions. Interviews with regional employees reflect their agentic perception by federal officials, who often treat regional officials exclusively as executors - but not as equal colleagues capable and willing to use knowledge of the regional context to adjust unified directives coming from above. In reality, we observe a constant alternation of the modes of “agency” and “actorship” among the same leaders, and it is the proactive activity of regional officials in developing measures of state support for employers and personnel policy, adaptation, and nuanced orders depending on regional specifics that becomes the key to their success.