This paper has presented methodology for assessing the economic need for personnel with higher scientific qualifications and the mechanisms for regulating the process of its reproduction. Approaches to forecasting the dynamics of personnel of higher scientific qualifications that take into account the provision of additional annual need for Candidates and Doctors of Sciences in scientific, educational, and knowledgeintensive sectors of the economy, as well as the experience of countries with effective market economies, have been considered. Based on the developed methodology, quantitative indicators of the annual additional need for Candidates and Doctors of Sciences for different sectors of the economy have been calculated.