In 2009 demographers from the Institute of Economics of the Ural branch of Russian Academy of Sciences worked out the demographic forecast in the context of the “General plan for development of the municipal entity “Ekaterinburg”. The paper deals with the scientific approach to demographic forecasting. Particular attention was given to the suggested algorithm of tabulation referred to long-range population size based on the technique of ageing and the component method (with the dynamics of fertility, survival and migration of the population of different age and sex taken into consideration). In conclusion, the authors analyze an estimated population size and age-sex structure in terms of two scenarios of demographic development of the municipal entity “Ekaterinburg” until 2030.

The features of information and network economy influence on the nature of employment are being analyzed. With the development of the fifth technological mode, mechanical movement of the labour forces from one industry to another one is impossible. This is prevented by a broad restructuring of the occupational structure of employment, the disappearance of many "old" professions and the emergence of the ones, which require special educational training. There is a growing share of employment mainly in mental labour and decrease of the proportion of persons employed in manual labour, which includes workers of all skill levels. The reduction of productive employment, partly related to labour productivity growth, is offset by its growth in non-manufacturing "computer" occupations - among various administrative support staff servicing computers, creators of peripheral equipment and programmers, operators of local networks etc. New information technologies make it possible to extend flexible forms of employment that do not require steady jobs. In this process, the information economy can provide a number of issues in employment related to the erosion of traditional social and labour relations, weakening of the legal protection of employees in the information business that requires adequate response of the society and the state.

The article is devoted to the actual problem to find the adequate methods to assess the economic performance of municipalities conditioned by their growing independence and role in the development of regional economy. Nowadays many researchers are working on the practical application and testing of various approaches to assessing the territory economic results based on the calculation of gross municipal product (GÌP). However, the development of methodological reasonable calculation tools is still at an early stage. In this article presents a simplified method of calculating the gross municipal product, an analysis of the dynamics and territorial industrial structure GÌP, implemented in terms of grouping areas GÌP methods hierarchical cluster analysis of the economic characteristics of the obtained clusters based on systematic occurring in the economic literature, methodological developments in the calculation of gross municipal product, determination of strengths and weaknesses of different methodological approaches.

The article is devoted to the relevant problem of regional development that is the development of methodological tools to evaluate the life quality in the region. The article discusses the concept of “life quality”, as well as related terms and justifies the author’s position about its content. The existing Russian and foreign approaches to the assessment of life quality were analyzed, and it was argued that a comprehensive approach was the most relevant to conduct this research. The criteria to assess the life quality of the population were summoned. The authors proposed a methodological approach that not only includes the objective indicators of the life quality presented in the statistical reporting of Federal State Statistics Service, but also involves the subjective assessments of the local population, which allows to obtain an adequate assessment of the life quality of the population in the region. The methodological research tools include, firstly, mathematical methods of statistical data processing and, secondly, a sociological survey of the population of Sverdlovsk region about the level of satisfaction with various aspects of life. The authors concluded that stable growth objective indicators of life quality, on the one hand, characterize Sverdlovsk region. On the other hand, simultaneously it is accompanied with low satisfaction with population-specific aspects of life quality, which generally reduces the integral indicator of the life quality of the population, despite the positive dynamics of socio-economic development of the region and an active social policy of the regional authorities. The results of the study were used for the preparation of the regional target program “New life quality of Ural” (decree of the Governor of Sverdlovsk region from 29.01.2014 No. 45-UG “ON the Concept of improving the quality of life of the population of Sverdlovsk region for the period up to 2030 — “a new quality of life of Ural”).