The mass departure of citizens to foreign countries due to the mobilization that began on September 21, 2022, combined with the intensification of the conflict in Ukraine, led to an “acute” shortage of skilled workers in the Russian labor market. This factor is the main obstacle to the development of the Russian economy. opens the words of the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, doctor of economic sciences Yevgeny Gontmakher.
“When businesses are asked what is holding them back from their development, the most common answer is ‘lack of skilled personnel.’ At the same time, work continues that needs skilled specialists and production organizers – managers who cannot replace any artificial intelligence,” explains Gontmakher.
According to him, another factor that negatively affects the number of skilled workers in the Russian labor market is negative demographics. We are talking about citizens between the ages of 14 and 65, which are decreasing every year. This creates all the preconditions for a formal reduction in the unemployment rate, but leads to lower productivity and the quality of labour.
“Due to negative demographics, the healthy population is declining by several hundred thousand people a year. <….> There are jobs in the country. There are more vacancies on recruitment sites than applicants’ profiles. The problem is different and employers have been talking about it for years. This is the lack of qualified personnel. <….> For example, although there are enough state-sponsored places where they are trained at technical universities, we have an enormous shortage of engineers,” Gontmakher complained.
April 12, Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov taken into account The global recession and staff shortages are the main risks for the Russian economy. Against this background, efforts need to be intensified as much as possible to increase labor productivity and redistribute personnel between regions and industries.