The government intends to popularize engineering and blue-collar jobs. A wide range of measures has been planned: organizing competitions for the best professionals, forums for young professionals, school Olympiads in specialized subjects, and construction team gatherings. The program is not limited to the revival of Soviet practices; it also provides for “career guidance work in social networks” and incentives for participants in the WorldSkills international blue-collar jobs competitions. The prime minister and relevant ministers are signaling that the points of the May 2012 decrees on increasing the share of highly qualified specialists in the economy are being implemented.

Raising the prestige of blue-collar and engineering professions, and increasing the qualifications of specialists is a worthy initiative. The last, 41st place, which the Russian team shared with Chile, Estonia, Iceland, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia at WorldSkills-2014 in Leipzig is no less a painful blow to the country's prestige than the defeats of hockey and football players at key tournaments.

But do the authors of these plans take into account the current economic situation and institutional environment in Russia? Winners of international competitions, young engineers, students and applicants to technical universities and technical schools will apply for new jobs with high-quality equipment, decent working conditions and wages. However, according to Rosstat, the number of skilled workers engaged in the production of machinery and equipment decreased by 7.2% in 2014. Long-term trends are not encouraging either: in 2005–2013, the number of skilled workers in industry, transport and construction decreased by 13.4% – from 10.8 million to 9.4 million. Low demand for quality labor in the manufacturing industries is a consequence of the current economic structure and high wages in energy resource extraction. Businessmen are afraid to create new highly productive production facilities and improve the skills of workers due to the high risk of losing their property and freedom. In the last year, these have been supplemented by the consequences of the state’s foreign policy: the high cost of foreign equipment and difficulties with loans.

The supply of decent jobs in such a situation is unlikely to increase. The hopes of raising the prestige of skilled workers and engineers by holding a junior forestry competition "Podrost" (as stated in the government decree) or a musical and poetic competition "The Railway is My Destiny" seem naive in the current conditions.

Popularization of workers