System approach to analysis of the essence of migration processes

Ukraine's integration into the European Economic Area is accompanied by large-scale labor migration of economically active population. Under the current conditions, it takes on new forms of quality, the motivational component of labor displacements is changing, the structure of the population included in the sphere of migration processes has undergone significant changes, the share of persons with high professional qualification and educational level and considerable work experience has increased. All this requires deep reflection and investigation of the cause and effect relationships of labor migration, a thorough scientific analysis of current trends, identification of benefits and potential threats to the country, the formation of a well-considered state labor migration policy. Paying attention to existing scientific developments, it should be noted that studies of labor migration processes, with a small exception, are at an early stage: many methodological and organizational aspects of their regulation are not properly disclosed, they lack a deep scientific understanding of the essence of migration processes as a complex social and economic phenomenon. The article attempts to reveal the epistemological nature and essence of the migration process as a complex system of social order. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of its system-forming components, which are in causal relationships and ensure its integrity, which is important for the formation of organizational and economic mechanism of regulation of labor migration processes. In the course of the research it was found out that the migration process as a complex system involves a number of interrelated stages - migration environment, migration situation, migration behavior, migration movement, i.e. mobility and adaptation of labor migrants. The article focuses on the analysis of the initial, basic stage of the migration process - the migration environment, which determines the migration situation, under the influence of which migration behavior is formed, and therefore migration mobility and the intensity of labor movements. This understanding of the nature of migration processes is essential for the practice of regulating migration processes and for the formation of an organizational and economic mechanism for regulating labor movements. The analysis of each of the isolated stages makes it possible to ensure the systematic and comprehensive management of labor migration processes, to increase the efficiency of the state migration policy.