Businesses across the economy need both skilled and unskilled workers, surveys have shown

Most Russian companies are facing an acute shortage of workers as the country’s job market undergoes a transformation, news outlet Izvestia reported on Monday, citing recruiting agencies.   

Some 86% of enterprises and organizations have struggled to fill open positions since the beginning of the year, regardless of size and industry, according to headhunting agency SuperJob.    

“The larger the business is, the more often its representatives have complained about a lack of applicants,” Superjob said.   

Demand for labor has been most notable in the transport and logistics and retail and service sectors, recruiters say. Enterprises in the manufacturing and construction industries have reported a lack of skilled workers and engineers, while retailers said they have been short of sales staff, loaders, drivers, and warehouse workers.    

The areas seeing a major increase in vacancies include the financial sector, personnel management, IT, and administration, data showed.  

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Shortages in the workforce will remain a fundamental problem of the labor market in 2024 for the vast majority of employers, according to the recruiting agency hh.ru.   

“62% of companies want to increase their headcount this year, and in the mechanical engineering industry this figure is even more impressive, amounting to 84%,” Natalya Danina, hh.ru’s chief labor market expert, told Izvestia.

The need to develop domestic high-tech enterprises has significantly changed the makeup of demand for labor, experts note, saying that specializations related to biology and bio-technologies will be most needed.

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