Russia experiencing severe labor shortage – media
The job market in Russia is undergoing drastic changes amid a shortage in workforce due to a demographic gap and losses from the pandemic, Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported on Tuesday.
According to a survey conducted by the Yakov and Partners consultancy firm (formerly McKinsey), most Russians believe that constant training, hybrid work, and increased requirements will become major trends shaping the country’s labor market up to 2030.
Employee demand surged by 160% last summer, compared to the same period last year, according to data from the Avito Job recruiting agency. The top three areas that recorded the largest increase in vacancies included personnel management, IT, and administration, data showed. And the biggest jump in salary offers was reported in the education, arts, and domestic staff segments.
Researchers cited the demographic gap as the main reason behind the shortage of workers in Russia, saying that, each year, the labor market is missing thousands of new specialists.
“For the past ten years, each year, about 100,000 fewer young people enter the labor market, compared to the previous year. The labor market has lost about a million people because of the Covid pandemic and another two million due to the special military operation in Ukraine. These include contract soldiers, those who were mobilized and people who left,” the study noted.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin emphasized the importance of advanced training programs at a meeting devoted to the development of education on the labor market on Tuesday.
“Many companies now need competent employees. Therefore, it is necessary to create a flexible system of professional re-training so that citizens could obtain additional skills and have more job opportunities,” he pointed out.
The need to develop domestic high-tech enterprises have prompted a large-scale reshuffle of specialists in demand, the Russian Labor Ministry added, saying that “the biggest demand for personnel has emerged in the industrial sector. Today there are up to 13 vacancies per one registered unemployed skilled worker.”
The Labor Ministry expects that, by 2030, the need for employees will grow the most in areas like manufacturing, transportation and logistics, health and social care, research and science, and IT.
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