Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
One estimate put the worker deficit at 3.1 million by 2030.
Russia has a problem.
Well, depending on who you ask, the country has been grappling with several problems in recent years, but one challenge even the authorities are openly recognizing is a labor shortage.
According to The Moscow Times, wartime realities are one of the main drivers of the shortage. The newspaper cites demographer Igor Yefremov, who estimates that military service pulled around 1.7 million people out of the workforce between 2022 and 2025.
Emigration and a shrinking population are adding more fuel to the fire.
And now, the Russian authorities are preparing to lift a ban on several jobs that are currently illegal for women to hold.
More jobs open
For a long time, Russian laws barred women from hundreds of roles due to health concerns. But in 2021, the government cut the restricted list from 456 jobs to just 100.
The remaining bans still cover sectors such as mining and chemical production. But a new roadmap aims to shrink that list even further by 2027.
The Labor Ministry predicts the worker deficit could reach 3.1 million by 2030. To make matters worse, audit firm FinExpertiza reported that the available labor reserve has plummeted by 40 percent since 2021.
Other estimates put the looming shortage somewhere between 1.5 million and 2.6 million.
Changing the rules
According to The Moscow Times, the government has already trimmed the list of prohibited jobs significantly. According to the state-run RIA Novosti news agency, First Deputy Labor Minister Olga Batalina discussed the shift at a recent forum.
“Working conditions are changing thanks to digitalization and the introduction of safer production methods, so more professions that were once considered male are becoming professions for women,” Batalina was quoted as saying.
Officials are also pitching unusual ideas to plug the gaps. One commissioner suggested letting 12-year-olds take summer jobs. A deputy prime minister noted that the country could welcome an unlimited number of Indian workers to fill factory roles.
