The paper analyzes changes in job opportunities of older workers in Russia in the period 2005—2017. The study uses the data from the Russian Labor Force Survey conducted by Rosstat. Changes in the occupational and industrial composition of elderly workers follow the trends pursued by other age groups: employment shifts from low- to high-skilled occupations, from physical to intellectual labor, and from material production to the service sector. We find a stronger polarization among older workers as their occupational structure is biased in favor of, on the one hand, the most and, on the other hand, the least qualified types of jobs. Employment of the elderly has fallen sharply in agriculture and manufacturing with a significant increase in trade, education, and health. Although the employment structure of older workers is generally more "traditionalist", recent decades have witnessed its transformation in "progressive" directions, similarly to other age groups. These findings suggest that the legislated increase in the state retirement age is not likely to give rise to sizeable unemployment among the elderly. Most of them will be able to work in the occupations and industries previously dominated by young and prime-age workers.
The relevance of the study is determined by the need for economic development of the northern and Arctic territories, the backwardness of which is due to their remoteness, inaccessibility, and harsh climatic conditions. At the same time, the regions of the Far North and territories equivalent to them have significant natural fuel resources, and therefore the importance of their economic development in the context of the growing need for energy resources in the world and national economies is significantly increasing. The aim of the study is to clarify the role and significance of strategic management at the federal, regional, corporate and municipal levels, taking into account priorities for strengthening the sustainability of the northern and Arctic territories and ensuring interconnection between the strategic goals and objectives of the state, business, and municipal community. Large corporations, whose enterprises are located in the northern and Arctic territories, must bear increased social and environmental responsibility for the development of social infrastructure, the preservation of the fragile northern and Arctic nature in the territories of their presence, and consolidate measures to preserve the traditional crafts of the peoples of the Far North and natural biodiversity in their strategic documents. The article proposes the following regional instruments of influence on the activities of oil and gas companies to strengthen the sustainability of the northern and Arctic territories, taking into account the specifics of their development and determining the order of mutual coordination of corporate and state goals and objectives, as well as the local community's interests: an integral indicator of the level of regional influence on the activities of oil and gas companies to strengthen the sustainability of the northern and Arctic territories, taking into account weighing coefficients calculated by the expert method; an algorithm for the development of regional tools for influencing the activities of oil and gas companies, allowing for the systematic implementation of organizational and management measures in the interests of the sustainability of the northern and Arctic territories and the region as a whole; a flowchart of decision-making for the formation of strategic program documents of all levels, taking into account the specifics of the northern and Arctic territories, identifying the most significant and underestimated aspects of regional influence on the activities of oil and gas companies in matters of life support, environmental protection measures and employment of the indigenous population, contributing to the sustainability of the northern and Arctic territories. In the article, the existing theoretical provisions are supplemented by the authors' proposals for the development and inclusion in strategic program documents of state and municipal government bodies of issues related to interaction with oil and gas enterprises in the field of socio-economic development, as well as improvement of the quality of life of indigenous peoples of the Far North in the context of an increased environmental and social responsibility of business.
