The shortage of workers in Russia in 2024 was twice as high as in 2020

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In 2024, Russian companies lacked about 2.2 million workers. A greater shortage is observed among drivers, industrial workers and construction workers, reports “To be Precise” with reference to data from a survey of the needs of organizations for workers published by Rosstat.

The labor shortage of 7.6% was the highest in the history of statistics collection since 2008. For comparison, in 2022 it was 5.4%, and in 2020 - 3.7% of the total number of employees. Earlier, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation also noted that in the first quarter of 2025, the labor shortage could become the maximum in the entire history of observations.

Among drivers, the labor shortage amounted to about 216 thousand people, and among engineering and industrial workers - 141 and 166 thousand, respectively.

In percentage terms, the most acute shortage of workers occurred among farmers, foresters and fishermen - more than 15% of the total number of people employed in this area. In second place are unskilled employees in the fields of construction and industry.

Among the regions, the largest personnel shortage was recorded in occupied Sevastopol - 16.3%. It is followed by the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Kamchatka Territory and Moscow Region.

In addition, Rosstat also collected data taking into account shortages in specific specialties. Thus, of the 20 professions where there is the greatest shortage of personnel, ten are related to medicine - emergency medicine doctor, pharmacist and nutritionist.