A poll conducted by Russia’s Yegor Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy showed that the country is facing the largest labor shortage since 1996.
The institute surveyed the opinions of managers of 1,000 industrial enterprises in Russia on a monthly basis, with 35 percent of them saying in April that their enterprises lack the required number of workers.
According to the institute, the labor shortage in Russia comes as a result of the state of partial mobilization announced by President Vladimir Putin since last September due to the war in Ukraine.
The current labor shortage “constitutes a deep and long-term problem hindering industrial growth in the country,” Sergey Tsuklo, director of business surveys at the institute, told a press conference.
The sectors that suffer the most from the labor shortage are light industry and mechanical engineering, Tsohlo added.
The exit of giant Western brands such as McDonald’s and Starbucks from Russia in the wake of the war on Ukraine provided opportunities in the retail sector, but affected the manufacturing and production sectors.
“There is simply no one to produce,” Tsohlo said.
Putin had acknowledged the existence of a labor shortage in Russia in April.
