SERGEY TSUKHLO: “RUSSIAN INDUSTRY DEMONSTRATES PERSONNEL SHORTAGE”

The Nezavisimaya Gazeta cites the opinion of head of the Gaidar Institute’s Business Surveys Department Sergey Tsukhlo about a serious personnel shortage in industry caused by shortages of migrant workers.

Russian industrial enterprises are forced to take dramatic measures in their search for workforce, as the Gaidar Institute’s experts have found out in the course of their study. The Nezavisimaya Gazeta refers to data released by the employment services, which indicate that the demand of employers for human resources has become record high. And although in August the number of employed increased, that growth index was still below the seasonal norm. The number of vacancies offered by HeadHunter (HH) in January-September increased by 70% in annual terms, while that of submitted applications - by only 2%. One of the reasons for the personnel shortage is a notable shortage of migrants. And judging by the data derived from recruiters, employers rarely require a certificate of vaccination against COVID-19.

At the beginning of Q3, Russian industry was faced with a shortage of workforce, according to the Gaidar Institute researchers. “This situation forced enterprises to begin intensive and quite successful recruitment efforts, as compared to the disastrous results of Q2. However, enterprises are ready to continue “vacuuming” the scarce labor market,” explained the review’s author Sergey Tsukhlo, head of the Business Surveys Department of the Gaidar Institute.

Judging by Rosstat data, August saw a record high demand of employers for workforce at the level of approximately 2.2 million, according to the number of applications submitted to the employment agencies. At the same time, there were only around 55 persons considered to be out of work per 100 available work openings.

For reference: in August 2020, alongside the employer demand for 1.7 million, there were 234 unemployed persons per 100 vacancies. And in August of the pre-Covid year 2019, when the employer demand was approximately the same (1.7 million), there were 48 unemployed persons per 100 vacancies.

“In September, the balance of recruitment plans reached an absolute maximum: our polls have never before recorded such a high optimism with regard to these intentions,” said Sergey Tsukhlo.