ANALYSIS OF LABOR MARKET TRENDS IN SINGLE-INDUSTRY TOWNS IN KAZAKHSTAN

Purpose of the research is to identify key trends and speci ﬁ cs of the formation of the labor market, as well as to develop recommendations for increasing employment in single-industry towns of industrial and raw materials type of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Methodology . The following scienti ﬁ c methods are used in the work: statistical observation; comparative analysis


INTRODUCTION
The relevance of the study of the labor market and employment in single-industry towns of industrial and raw material type in the Republic of Kazakhstan is because there are 27 settlements with the status of «singleindustry towns» in Kazakhstan, where about 1.5 million people or 16 % of the total urban population of the country live [1]. In the era of Soviet industrialization single-industry towns in Kazakhstan were created on the site of deposits, city-forming and processing enterprises.
In the territorial and spatial development of modern Kazakhstan, monotowns have become hotbeds of acute socio-economic problems, holding back the balanced sustainable development of the country. The main problems of single-industry towns are loss of competitiveness of the main industries, low quality of housing and and high degree of importance of solving the problems of single-industry towns in Kazakhstan, and above all, of providing employment and improving living standards. Back in November 2021, at a meeting in Ekibastuz, President Tokayev noted that the deterioration of water and sewage networks is 61 % on average, and in the cities of Arkalyk, Balkhash, Shakhtinsk and Temirtau, it reaches 90 %. Depreciation of heat networks and power lines averages 55 %, and in some single-industry towns -85 % [16].
The consequences of systemic problems with engineering, automobile and other infrastructure facilities in single-industry towns like Temirtau, Stepnogorsk, Balkhash, Ekibastuz, and Ridder (depreciation of CHP, 40-50 % of roads in unsatisfactory condition) will cost Kazakhstan citizens dearly.
In the majority of single-industry towns, more than a third of economically active citizens are self-employed, and the average income per capita is lower than the average level. The results of all this are disappointing: since 1999, their population has halved, from 3 million to 1.5 million people, and this trend continues [16].
The solution of the main problems related to the development and improvement of life of the residents of single-industry towns requires a comprehensive and in-depth approach in the study of the potential for diversifi cation of production and development of SME in single-industry towns, the elaboration of the directions of their sustainable development.
We consider improving the investment image of single-industry towns on the principles of marketing to be an important aspect in these directions. This study in this regard, fi rstly, will contribute to the expansion of existing in the world scientifi c community developments in the fi eld of single-industry towns' development, and secondly, it is aimed at elaborating science-based recommendations on strategic priorities of single-industry towns' development on the basis of territorial marketing. Taking into account the above-mentioned urgent problems of development of single-industry towns in Kazakhstan, the joint eff orts of the research group of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and Narxoz University within the framework of the scientifi c project «Revival of single-industry towns in the conditions of New Kazakhstan based on territorial marketing», fi nanced by the Science Committee of the Ministry of Higher Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, set a goal to develop the Strategy of revival and modernization of single-industry towns in New Kazakhstan. In this regard, it is very important to analyze the labor market in single-industry towns of the Republic of Kazakhstan to determine the trends, specifi cs and structure of the labor market. Labor market trends identifi ed during the analysis and development of employment in single-industry and commodity-type cities will be taken as a basis for the development of this strategy.
In addition, the main results of the study can contribute to the implementation of «anchor» projects, which to date in single-industry towns of the country do not work in full, because they cannot fi nd markets. It should be noted that the analysis was conducted on 25 out of 27 Kazakh monotowns, as data on Altay and Serebryansk are not representative and are not offi cially registered. In general, it is worth noting that, unfortunately, systematized offi cial data on statistics on the number of employed, self-employed, levels of unemployment and basic income, as well as other important for a complete analysis of labor market and employment indicators in single-industry towns of Kazakhstan are not available in a comprehensive form. In the course of the study, information on single-industry towns in Kazakhstan was meticulously collected from the sources of periodicals, offi cial websites of single-industry towns, sources from open sources of the World Wide Web, as well as offi cial statistical data of the National Statistics Bureau of the Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

MAIN PART
To identify the key trends and specifi cs of the formation of the labor market in single-industry and raw material-type cities of the Republic of Kazakhstan, we fi rst of all applied general scientifi c and statistical research methods.
To analyze the population dynamics of single-industry towns of the Republic of Kazakhstan from 2017-2021, we systematized indicators for all 27 single-industry towns of Kazakhstan, Table 1.
At the time of the study, there are 27 monotowns in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 1.5 million people, which is 8 % of the total population of the country. The largest number, namely 8 monotowns are located in the Karaganda region, the largest city in Kazakhstan is Temirtau -about 173 thousand people, the smallest city is Serebryansk -about 7 thousand people, according to offi cial statistics of Kazakhstan. Note: compiled by the authors according to [17].
As seen from Table 1  Note -developed by the authors according to [17] The highest peak in the population of all monotowns in the country is characterized by 2018 -1 425 642 people, while in 2020 there were 4 082 fewer residents of monotowns, 1 421 560 people. In 2021, there were 816 more residents of monotowns of the republic compared to 2020.
So, in comparison with the republican parameters, where there is a positive dynamics of growth in the number of inhabitants of the country, in monotowns we can state the stability of the number of residents, but with a tendency of decrease in the share of population of monotowns in the total population of the country from 7.9 % -in 2017, 7.8 % -in 2018, 7.7 % -in 2019, 7.6 % -in 2020, 7.5 % -in 2021. Thus, on a nationwide scale, against the background of the growth of the population of Kazakhstan, the number of residents of singleindustry towns tends to steadily decrease, by 0.1 p.p. annually.
Next, we conducted a study of the main indicators of the labor market and the development of employment in single-industry and raw material-type cities. As can be seen from the data in Table 2, for the period from 2017 to 2021. the indicator -the number of labor force in single-industry towns decreases from year to year. Comparatively, there is a decrease of 22,008 people, from 782,705 in 2017 to 760,697 in 2021, with a maximum decrease in the workforce in pandemic 2020 of 754,181.  [17] We remind you that the analysis is conducted on 25 of 27 Kazakh single-industry towns, as the data for Altai and Serebryansk are not representative and are not offi cially registered.
Logically, the leaders among single-industry towns in terms of labor force, as we see it, are the same 3 cities, where there is a large number of residents themselves (Temirtau, Ekibastuz, Rudny). The average number of labor force in these cities is 96,724; 77,331; 73,848 respectively. So, the maximum number of labor force is 95,851 in Temirtau, while the minimum number in Kurchatov is only 7,984. Illustration of the extent of the «gap» in the number of labor force from the maximum to the minimum, we can observe in Figure 2. Note -developed by the authors according to the data [17] Separately, the city of Zhanaozen stands out, where the number of labor force is relatively higher than in other single-industry towns in the country, on average almost 45 thousand people, or 44,946 in the analyzed period. Next, a group of such single-industry towns with an average labor force of 39,745 are close, but lower: Zhezkazgan with 41,125 workers, Balkhash with 39,561 workers, Stepnogorsk with 37,577 workers.
In 2021, there are no particularly strong changes in the number of labor force compared to 2017. In general, the indicators have remained stable for 5 years. Thus, in Rudny there was a slightly noticeable increase in the number of the labor force by almost 2,000 people. Here is a trend of reduction in the number of labor force, although not signifi cantly, but nevertheless it decreased in many single-industry towns of Kazakhstan: Stepnogorsk, Zhanatas, Arkalyk, Lisakovsk, Zhanaozen, Aksu, Ekibastuz, according to Figure 3. Note -developed by the authors according to [17] Obviously, it will be interesting to study the structure of the labor force, in terms of the ratio of the employed and unemployed. In this regard, let us consider the data in Table 3.
As shown in Table 3, the following trends are observed in the labor force structure of single-industry towns in Kazakhstan: -the leaders among single-industry towns in the number of employed are the cities of Temirtau, Ekibastuz and Rudny, which also dominate in terms of population as a whole: -the number of unemployed is observed in correlation with the number of employed citizens, respectively, the leaders in the number of unemployed also became the cities of Temirtau, Ekibastuz and Rudny. Note -compiled by the authors according to [17] As for single-industry towns, where the number of unemployed is registered at low parameters, the same trend can be seen. Where the number of residents is not high, there are low rates of unemployment. These are mono-cities Karazhal and Kurchatov. In Karazhal the average population for the analyzed period is only 8 thousand people, and the number of unemployed on average -356 people. In Kurchatov, on average, 12 thousand inhabitants, of which the workforce is about 8 thousand people, and the average number of unemployed -361 people.
It is interesting to look at the indicators of Abay, Karaganda region. At comparatively high indicators of population (about 28 thousand) and employed people on average about 15 thousand, a low number of unemployed is observed -392 people in average for the last 5 years.
So, completing a small study of the labor market and employment in single-industry towns of Kazakhstan for the period from 2017-2021, we can come to the following results and conclusions.  A comparative analysis with the indicators for the country as a whole has revealed that while the number of residents in single-industry towns remained the same during this period, their share in the total population of the country tends to decrease (by 0.1 p.p. annually).
Analysis of the main indicators of the labor market and development of the employment sphere in singleindustry and raw material-type towns showed that the number of the labor force in single-industry towns is decreasing from year to year. Especially pandemic COVID-2019 had its impact on the reduction of the workforce in single-industry towns of the country. The reduction in the number of labor force is observed in many singleindustry towns of Kazakhstan: Stepnogorsk, Zhanatas, Arkalyk, Lisakovsk, Zhanaozen, Aksu, Ekibastuz.
Analysis of the structure of the labor force, in terms of the ratio of the employed and unemployed showed a correlation between the number of inhabitants, the number of labor force and the number of unemployed. There is a close correlation between these indicators.
The monotowns of Temirtau, Ekibastuz and Rudny lead in terms of population, number of employed and unemployed. Karazhal and Kurchatov single-industry towns stand out by low rates of unemployment, but at the same time by the number of residents and employed.
When translating the results of statistical analysis into the practical fi eld, we can put forward the following discussion issues.
First, due to the fact that employment in single-industry towns is provided mainly by one city-forming enterprise, there is a narrowly focused specialization of workers. The population is homogeneous by professional specialization. At the same time there are huge risks of the outfl ow of young people from monotowns to large settlements, the aging of the population, and labor migration.
In this regard, the question of diversifi cation of the economic structure of single-industry towns is relevant. What ways will help to reduce dependence on the prices of raw materials, how to develop employment, small and medium business in single-industry towns. Since there is a problem of so-called hidden unemployment.
The question of state management in the development of monotowns remains acute and requires a new approach. Thus, all the adopted state programs and measures did not bring any results. The fi rst program after the state audit was found to be ineff ective. Further attempts are integrated into other programs, into the Program of Regional Development until 2020. It is necessary to eliminate the uncertainty, rushing from one program to another, and the lack of concrete steps on the part of state offi cials and the Government.
The next important prospective issue for the development of single-industry towns in Kazakhstan, we believe, is digitalization. When today the digital mine, digital industrial enterprise is developing in full force in the world, it is time for Kazakh city-forming enterprises of single-industry towns to introduce modern management processes, re-engineering, digitization of business processes and updating the professional skills of their employees.