Introduction

The USSR is in the process of deciding how to make and manage its transition to a market-type economy. With regard to employment and the labour market, this transition will mean the end of a system of guaranteed employment, as unprofitable enterprises are forced to close down, and others are no longer able to ‘hoard’ superfluous workers. For the first time, the Soviet Union is trying to come to terms with unemployment and define the forms and amount which already exist in the country. The legislation related to the economic reform is expected to include a new Employment Act, which will set out the type of provision to be made for anticipated large increases in unemployment.

How prepared is the Soviet Union to manage such changes in employment practices? How is reallocation to be achieved? Do incentives and mechanisms exist to facilitate job changes? Are new policies being designed to ensure a minimum social consensus for the economic changes envisaged and to protect certain sections of the population? Other East European countries are faced with similar problems, but the lessons for the Soviet Union from this quarter are limited, since, the scale and regional diversity of the Soviet labour market make it a special and more complex case.