The city of Moscow is reported to have a dynamic economy with a high labor participation rate and a low unemployment rate. The most recent Gallup Poll of Moscow* indicates 50% of Muscovites have full-time jobs, 6% are employed part time, 3% are unemployed and looking for work, 3% are temporarily laid off, and 1% are unemployed and not looking for work. Twenty-three percent say they are retired and 6% each are students and homemakers.
Job Security and Satisfaction in Moscow
Muscovites' feelings about their jobs are more positive than negative. Sixty-one percent of employed Muscovites say they are satisfied with the organization or company they work for, including 29% who are extremely satisfied. Those figures don't seem far out of line with those of urban workers in the United States; a 2002 Gallup Poll of the 50 top U.S. cities** found that 66% of workers in those cities said they were satisfied with the companies they work for.
Job security in Moscow is somewhat tenuous, with one in every five workers (22%) saying it's likely they will be laid off from their jobs within the next 12 months (12% say it's extremely likely). On the other hand, 60% say it's unlikely they'll be laid off, including 44% who say it's not likely at all.
Finally, how many Muscovites perceive discrimination as a barrier to obtaining a job, or to mobility within their companies? The Gallup data reflect a relatively low incidence of perceived workplace discrimination. Just 3% of Muscovites say they've been denied a job or a promotion because of their race, religion, or ethnic background.
*Results based on interviews with 1,008 Moscow residents, aged 18 and older, conducted in January and February 2005. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points.
For results based on 573 Moscow residents, aged 18 and older, employed full or part time, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±5 percentage points.
**Results based on interviews with 1,474 U.S. full- or part-time workers from 50 cities, aged 18 and older, conducted from July to August 2002. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points.
