Demand on Digital Skills in Russia: Regional Differences

ABSTRACT

This paper examines regional differences in the demand for digital skills based on an analysis of 9 million vacancies posted on the Unified Digital Platform ‘Work in Russia' in 2018–2022. We examine approaches used in the literature to classify digital skills and using it develop our own classification. The paper studies the advantages and limitations of various indicators of the demand for digital skills. We suggest that the ratio between the share of vacancies requiring digital skills of a certain group in the region and the labor force population should be used as the most appropriate one. The results of the study show that in Russia there is still a significant regional differentiation in the employer's demand for all selected groups. Differentiation increased with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and decreased slightly in 2021–2022. We reveal that regions with a higher level of economic development have higher requirements for digital skills. Digital skills are more often required in regions specialized on primary production and less often in agricultural regions. Of the federal districts, a slightly higher level of demand for digital skills is observed in the Ural and Far Eastern federal districts, while a significantly lower level is observed in the North Caucasus federal district. © 2023 Spatial Economics. All rights reserved.