Migration strategies of youth: factors of migration of different professional groups
Under the conditions of intensifying spatial polarization and the compression of habitable space across Northern Eurasia, the migration attitudes of student youth acquire the character of a system-forming factor that determines not only individual life trajectories but also the macro-regional dynamics of human capital. Methods: the empirical basis of the study comprised data from a regional monitoring of migration strategies among student youth in the Belgorod region, conducted in 2025 (sample N=1269 respondents, quota-sampled by year of study and area of residence). Three professional cohorts characterized by the greatest personnel significance for regional economies were placed in the analytical focus (engineering, medical, and pedagogical). Research results: a stable intergroup differentiation of migration potential was empirically verified: the engineering cohort demonstrates maximum mobility (aggregate migration potential of 78.9%), whereas the medical group is characterized by pronounced local attachment (57%), and the pedagogical group occupies an intermediate position (65.4%). It was established that the structure of factors influencing migration decisions is invariant with respect to the field of study: economic determinants play a dominant role, while institutional-status and existential factors act as moderators. The phenomenon of multi-vector engineering migration strategies was identified, oriented simultaneously toward domestic Russian centers and international markets (both Eastern and Western), which contrasts with the unidirectional local conservatism of the medical and pedagogical groups, conditioned by high institutional barriers (nostrification, licensing, language certification). An extremely low level of return migration readiness was recorded across all professional groups, with the highest refusal to return to the territory of residence observed among engineers. Conclusions: the migration potential of student youth is structurally mediated not so much by macroeconomic conditions as by the internal logic of professional fields: the higher the degree of institutional standardization of a profession and the stricter the entry barriers in external labor markets, the lower the spatial mobility, and vice versa. The obtained data indicate the need for a shift in regional personnel policy from image-building campaigns to targeted economic incentive instruments (increasing wages, housing programs, contractual retention mechanisms), as well as to the formation of a comfortable urban environment and infrastructural accessibility as mandatory conditions for the implementation of economic incentives. Otherwise, the growing centripetal migration of engineering and technical personnel will deepen interregional disparities and perpetuate personnel shortages in peripheral territories, which objectively leads to further compression of the habitable space of Northern Eurasia.
Shapovalov, D. A. (2026), “Migration strategies of youth: factors of migration of different professional groups”, Research Result. Sociology and Management, 12 (4), 130-145. DOI: 10.18413/2408-9338-2026-12-4-0-9.
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The study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation grant № 26-78-00135, https://rscf.ru/project/26-78-00135/.