Matsuk A. M. Mid-Level Personnel in the Finno-Ugric Republics of the RSFSR in the mid-1950s – mid-1970s: Proportion within the Total Number of Workers and Employees

Mid-Level Personnel in the Finno-Ugric Republics of the RSFSR in the mid-1950s – mid-1970s: Proportion within the Total Number of Workers and Employees

Alexander M. Matsuk
Institute of Language, Literature and History, Komi Science Centre,
Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Syktyvkar, Russia

Introduction. The processes of reforming the education system in the USSR in the second half of the 1950s – early 1960s had a certain impact on the system of secondary specialized education, including in the Finno-Ugric republics of the RSFSR. This, in turn, affected the dynamics of saturation of the national economy with mid-level personnel. The aim of the study is to examine the dynamics of the number of specialists with secondary vocational education and their proportion among all workers and employees within the specified territory in the context of the ongoing education reform and in the subsequent years.

Materials and Methods. The basis of the research presented in the article was statistical data that made it possible to trace the dynamics of changes in the number of mid-level specialists and their share in the national economy of the Finno-Ugric Republics of the RSFSR in the mid-1950s – mid-1970s. The research is based on comparative historical and systematic approaches, using the method of statistical information analysis.

Results and Discussion. The conducted study of the dynamics of changes in the number and proportion of middle-level specialists with secondary specialized education in the national economy of the five Finno-Ugric republics of the RSFSR revealed a positive trend that persisted throughout the studied period. The overall growth in the number of middle-level specialists was recorded at more than 4 times. The proportion of this group in the total number of workers and employees increased by more than 6%. Available statistical data showed the highest growth both in terms of number and proportion of these specialists in the early years of the education reform in the country, when there was a maximum influx of graduates who had completed their education before the reform. From 1960 to 1965, the dynamics of these indicators significantly slowed down, indicating the impact of negative factors from the ongoing reform. In the post-reform period, there was an observed acceleration in the growth rate of both the number and proportion of middle-level specialists.

Conclusion. The results obtained from this study can be used both as a basis for examining issues related to state policy on staffing the national economy with professional personnel during the specified period and for researching the history of the system of secondary specialized education in general. The general patterns identified in the study regarding changes in the number of mid-level staff employed in the national economy of the five Finno-Ugric republics of the RSFSR from 1955 to 1975, as well as the noted peculiarities of this process in individual republics against the backdrop of educational reforms in the country and the post-reform years, allow for further analysis of similar processes in other regions of the country.

Keywords: secondary specialized education, Finno-Ugric republics of the RSFSR, personnel, national economy, number, share

Funding: The publication was prepared within the framework of the implementation of the state assignment of the Federal Research Center of Komi Science Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Conflict of interest: The author declares no conflict of interest.

For citation: Matsuk A.M. Mid-Level Personnel in the Finno-Ugric Republics of the RSFSR in the mid-1950s – mid-1970s: Proportion within the Total Number of Workers and Employees. Finno-Ugric World. 2024;16(3):322–333. https://doi.org/10.15507/2076-2577.016.2024.03.322-333