The State Duma wants to stimulate training in blue-collar professions in order to eliminate the shortage of specialists in the regions. Deputy Viktor Zubarev (United Russia) made such a proposal in a letter to the Minister of Education Olga Vasilyeva and the Minister of Labor Maxim Topilin. Vedomosti reviewed a copy of the document, and Zubarev’s representative confirmed its authenticity.

The deputy refers to an August study by HeadHunter and Rabota.ru in collaboration with the Russian Union of Rural Youth (RSYM) to identify the most scarce professions in Russia. The final list included 15 professions, representatives of which are in dire need of employers from different regions of the federation.

The most popular and rare qualification on the Russian labor market has become the management of special equipment, as follows from the document. There is a shortage of truck crane and excavator operators in all federal districts. In second place are ERP consultants (specialists in automation of accounting and enterprise management). Also in the top five were a packer, a doctor and a welder.

The request for blue-collar professions is confirmed by available vacancies for mechanics, painters, and turners (6th–8th places on the list). There are not enough applicants among cooks and sewing shop specialists (10th and 13th place). The retail sector consistently needs cashiers who complete the checklist. The problems of the village are emphasized by the inclusion of agronomists and livestock specialists in the short list (9th and 14th positions). According to the study, the top 10 regions of the “map of demand for deficit workers”, according to data for August, included: Leningrad region, where there is a shortage of scarce specialists in all 15 categories, Rostov region (13 positions), Krasnodar region, Volgograd region (12 each). professions) and Kaluga region (11 each). Representatives of 10 professions from the list of shortages are required in the Voronezh, Belgorod, Astrakhan, Tula and Bryansk regions.

“Today we are talking about a qualification gap in which there are 1.3 billion workers around the world and 34 million citizens in Russia,” Zubarev writes in his address. The deputy explained to Vedomosti that employers are interested in specialists in blue-collar professions, but when choosing an education, young people give preference to those industries where there is a clear oversaturation of personnel. In this regard, Zubarev proposes that the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labor provide for the regular release of a shortlist of in-demand blue-collar professions and develop measures at the government level to support those who are ready to learn these professions.

The situation of a shortage of job seekers for blue-collar jobs is typical for many regions, Irina Svyatitskaya, head of the HeadHunter youth department, explained to Vedomosti. “Indeed, blue collar workers continue to be in short supply. At the end of last year, the increase in vacancies for working personnel was 205%, and there was often one resume per offer,” she notes. Svyatitskaya is confident that support from the state for creating a shortlist of skills in short supply will attract the attention of young people and students who will be able to evaluate different opportunities in the world of work.

Deputy General Director of the Rabota.ru service Alexander Veterkov, in turn, notes that the demand from employers for blue-collar professions has been growing at a rapid pace for several years. “Moscow traditionally sucks workers out of the regions and creates a shortage of specialists locally. Therefore, popularizing blue-collar professions among young people is a big task that needs to be constantly supported and developed,” he says. According to him, there is a tendency for young people to choose secondary specialized education.

Vedomosti sent a request to the Ministry of Education. Deputy Labor Minister Alexey Vovchenko did not comment on the initiative.

The government is asked to support blue-collar professions