Russia short of around 4.8 million workers in 2023, crunch to persist - Izvestia

In 2023, Russia faced a deficit of about 4.8 million workers, a persisting issue expected to linger through 2024, as per a report by Izvestia, which drew from insights and studies by the Russian Academy of Science's Institute of Economics.
Elvira Nabiullina, the Central Bank Governor, highlighted the acute labour scarcity affecting Russia, posing a threat to economic growth due to a drain on resources directed towards the military following a significant exodus post-Ukraine conflict in 2022, including skilled IT professionals. This departure stemmed from objections to the war or apprehensions about military conscription.
President Vladimir Putin's announcement of a partial military mobilisation in 2022 further fueled emigration, despite the low recorded unemployment rate of 2.9 per cent. However, there are no immediate plans for another mobilization, as stated by Putin.
The research author, Nikolai Akhapkin, mentioned in Izvestia, indicated a stark rise in labour shortages in 2022 and 2023. The newspaper highlighted the high demand for drivers and shop workers, with official data illustrating a workforce vacancy increase of 6.8 per cent by mid-2023, up from 5.8 per cent the previous year.
Citing Rosstat's statistics, the paper projected an approximate shortage of 4.8 million workers for 2023 when applied to the entire workforce. Labour Minister Anton Kotyakov stressed the impact on manufacturing, construction, and transportation, prompting companies to raise wages in attempts to attract more workers.
Tatyana Zakharova from Russia's University of Economics noted that labour shortages would likely persist, especially for factory workers, engineers, doctors, teachers, and other professions. She attributed this scarcity to unfavourable demographics and the population's migration.

(With Reuters inputs)