Bloomberg: Russia is faced with a shortage of personnel due to war

The war against Ukraine, the mobilization and mass outflow of Russians abroad created an abnormal situation in the Russian labor market - unemployment is at long -term minimums, and companies complain about the shortage of qualified personnel. Experts note that such trends will contribute to new problems for the Russian economy, which is unlikely to solve, Bloomberg writes promptly.

The publication notes that about a third of the sectors of the Russian economy, according to the results of 2022, recorded a decrease in the number of workers, but general employment, as the agency notes, on the contrary, has grown. The fact is that Rosstat, of which the agency refers, considers those who went to military service, and their number in 2022 increased by about 400 thousand people, although partial mobilization, which Vladimir Putin spoke about, suggested a draft of 300 thousand.

Bloomberg Economics economist Alexander Isakov is sure that the number of employees in the army in 2022 exceeded half a million, since Rosstat does not take into account citizens who went to war as part of private military structures, for example, Vagner PMCs, as well as volunteers who do not fall into official statistics. The outflow of able -bodied men into the army negatively affected the labor market, which has already begun to experience a shortage of qualified personnel. Another reason for the deficit is the mass departure of Russians abroad. The number of those who left Russia is estimated at least 500 thousand people.

Moreover, the agency predicts that in 2023 the Russian army will be increased by about 400 thousand people who will leave the labor market and only exacerbate the shortage of personnel. Another factor in the labor market is the purpose of the country's leadership to increase the number of army from the current 1.15 million people to 1.5 million by 2026. According to the results of January, unemployment in the country sank to 3.6% - a record low in the history of observations. At the same time, the shortage of personnel is already damaged by the economy - companies are forced to compete for employees in order to attract qualified personnel.

“The low level of unemployment in combination with a shortage of personnel inhibits the processes of structural transformation of the economy. There are either no people, or they are afraid to change the place of work in the current circumstances, ”says Natalya Danina, head of the analytical department of Headhunter.

In previous crises, the unemployment rate on average grew by 2.4%, but now this is not observed. The Russian authorities are bravated with these figures as economic achievements and evidence of stability, however, even the Russian Bank previously warned that the restoration growth of the economy will be limited by difficulties in the labor market, the agency notes. The positive in the labor market was seen only in the public sector close to military industry and construction, where increased state investments led to an increase in income, as well as employment.