One of the actual economic problem of today’s society is the reduction of a complex skilled labor to a simpler, which in fact bears important theoretical and practical applications. The research involves the resolution of significant economic problems, and above all, the improvement of pricing and the tariff system as well as the establishment of objective principles for the differentiation of salaries. The article identifies the main factors of the reproduction of labor power and factors of salary differentiation, which includes labor complexity, labor intensity, working conditions and social significance. Hence the salary band depends on the combination of the above listed factors. The cost of skilled labor reproduction and its value added have different starting points for the formation, their value is determined by factors lying in different planes. The source of value added created by simple labor is the expenditure of average labor, which does not require special training, over a certain unit of time. Wages are determined by the conditions for the reproduction of labor power, consisting of a number of the elements listed above, at a given level of development of productive forces and the tasks of expanded reproduction.

Today the threat of unemployment is one of the most pressing socio-economic problems for young professionals. The article examines the current state of the educational curriculum as well as infl uential factors, which determine the level of training competitive specialists must receive in order to succeed. Methods are proposed for solving the problem of employment and increasing the competitiveness of graduates in the job market. One of the main priorities for universities should be a creation of favorable conditions for students to acquire a number of specifi c skills, i.e. personal leadership, development of confi dent behavior skills, business communication, stress management, knowledge of general legal, economic and fundamental aspects. These skills will help in future activities to perform their basic daily duties. For this purpose, the methodology of implementing extracurricular activities is defined and the ways to integrate them into a higher educational program are proposed.

Analysis of the trends in the coal industry in Russia showed that, despite the stable demand in the global coal market, the growth rate of coal exports is slowing down. The main reason is the shortcomings of the transport and logistics infrastructure for the coal haulage. At the same time, the countries of the Asia-Pacific region are a promising export destination, and it is the Eastern operating domain of the Russian railway network that is most loaded and has insufficient throughput capacity. The study of the elements of the transport and logistics infrastructure revealed key problems, namely the underdevelopment of the railway infrastructure, the inconsistency of development programs for coal mining regions, port facilities and railway infrastructure, and the inconsistency of the operation of ports and the railway. Due to the fact that the development of the railway network in the eastern direction is a long-term project, and the coal haulage values will not be increased in the near future, an assessment is made of the possibility and economic efficiency of reorienting freight traffic in other directions.