There was a shortage of around 4.8 million workers in Russia this year. This is shown by a study whose results were published by the newspaper “Izvestia”. The war against Ukraine is not explicitly mentioned as a reason.
The labor shortage in Russia has increased sharply in the past two years. As the Russian newspaper “Izvestia” reports, citing the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 4.8 million people are currently missing. The development will probably last until 2024. According to the author of the studyNikolaj Achapkin, drivers and shop workers are particularly wanted.
Unemployment rate at its lowest point
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Central Bank had previously said that the shortage of skilled workers was slowing down the economy. According to official figures, the unemployment rate is at its lowest level in history at 2.9 percent. According to the report, the number of job vacancies as a percentage of the total workforce rose to 6.8 percent by mid-2023, compared to 5.8 percent the previous year.
The Ministry of Labor expanded the list of professions in which foreigners can also be employed. Companies are increasingly trying to recruit workers from African countries and North Korea. Labor Minister Anton Kotyakov also sees a shortage of skilled workers in the manufacturing and construction industries. Companies are forced to increase wages in order to attract more employees.
The reasons are demographic change and migration
According to the newspaper report, expert Tatyana Zakharova from the Plekhanov University of Economics in Moscow believes that the labor shortage will continue next year, as vacancies for factory workers, engineers, doctors, teachers and other professions will be particularly difficult to fill. She cited, among other things, demographic change and emigration as reasons for the labor shortage.
Hundreds of thousands of Russians, including highly qualified IT specialists, have left their country after the attack on Ukraine in February 2022. Many fled because they rejected the war or feared being drafted. The exodus increased after President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization of around 300,000 recruits in September 2022.