The Behavior of Russians Aimed at Improving Their Financial Situation in the Era of COVID-19

Abstract

The study analyzes the behavior of Russians aimed at improving their financial situation in the context of the economic crisis caused by the pandemic. The empirical base was the data of surveys conducted by the Institute of Sociology of the FCTAS RAS over a number of years, one of which was carried out in September 2020. The article demonstrates changes in the behavior of Russians in the context of various economic crises, in particular, the decline in the popularity of the most universal ways to improve their financial situation associated with odd jobs and subsidiary farming. It is also shown that in contrast to the crisis of 2014-2016, in 2020, many previously prosperous representatives of the mass strata of society experienced such a serious reduction in income sources that some of them had to change their behavior and look for additional ways to maintain their financial situation. As a result, representatives of the mass strata of the population began to more often turn to their close circle for help, and representatives of high-resource social groups began to practice part-time jobs, overtime work and the use of previously accumulated material and financial assets. However, their own resources are gradually becoming less and less even among relatively prosperous representatives of the mass strata of the country's population. Therefore, the intensification of hired employment is becoming the only way to improve the financial situation for many Russians. An external barrier to its spread is the limited number of jobs that involve highly skilled and highly paid work and / or overtime pay.

Acknowledgments. The study was supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (project No. 17-78-20125).