Migration Attractiveness Of The Social And Economic Spaces: Volgograd Case Study

The internal labor migration is an important catalyzer of the movement on the labor market, especially in large cities. It contributes to the economic growth, provides the balance of the labor market and stability of many sectors of economy (construction, communal services, area of services, trading). However, not all large cities are centers of migration attraction. Ideas of labor migrants about the city attractiveness are influenced by two groups of factors: objective (indicators of social and economic development of the territory, natural and climatic conditions, sectoral structure of economy, unemployment level, etc.) and subjective (availability and accessibility of channels related to non-formal interrelations with the local population and regional structures, attitude of local population, activity of social organizations that assist with adapting, availability and activity of communities, etc.). For improving theoretical knowledge about mechanisms related to forming migrant’s ideas about the city space as attractive, tools to estimate the social and economic space of the modern city were developed; objective and subjective criteria of its attractiveness were singled out. The research tools were tested through the example of the Russian city of Volgograd. According to the results of the research, it has been concluded that external labor migrants’ selection of the residence place is not defined exclusively by economic interests and objective indicators of the labor market, level of salary, etc. However, to a considerable degree, it depends on stable non-formal relations with relatives and acquaintances established before arriving at the residence place. However such relations only partially simplify the adaptation of arriving labor migrants and do not provide complete mastering of the city space by them. Therefore, it is necessary to change the target audience and direction of the work of ethno-national social organizations (associations of fellow-countrymen) that have been formed before. The latter must become the channel of mastering the urban space by new comers. The efficient work of these organizations can considerably improve the city attractiveness in the eyes of labor migrants. It contributes to the accumulation of the symbolic capital of the city expressed in increasing its acknowledgement and growth of trust to its residents