Retracted Article: Public regulation effectiveness assessment of Russian regional labor markets using hierarchical clustering method

Abstract

Public employment services (PES) in the modern world play a crucial role in improving the efficiency of the labor market, they reduce the time and effort of the unemployed in finding suitable work, and also reduce information asymmetry and costs for companies in finding the right workers. At the same time, the activities of the employment services themselves have different results, which creates problems with measuring their effectiveness depending on regional characteristics. This article is aimed at developing a more accurate assessment of the effectiveness of PES based on the construction of Russian regions classification. The study is based on the approach of Blien and Hirschenauer (2018), who proposed a new methodology for measuring the effectiveness of PES based on regional clustering. The application of the two-stage method of regression and agglomeration-hierarchical cluster analysis made it possible to rank Russian territories into seven groups of regional clusters. Using R Studio, it was compiled a map of seven clusters of Russian regions. Within each classification group, territories have similar characteristics of labor markets. This study is one of the first attempt to cluster regional labor markets in order to improve the efficiency of the activities of public employment services in Russia. The results of the study can be used by Russian federal and regional executive authorities in the development of an active employment policy in fairly similar territories to achieve greater efficiency of employment services, introduce new services and examples of best practices.