Fewer Jobs, Stronger the Competition: russia’s Labor Market Is Falling Apart

The first quarter of 2026 proved to be telling for the russian labor market. Job openings fell by 12% year-on-year, while the number of resumes submitted rose by 22%. One in four employers in the country cut staff in 2025 – and 66% of them cited financial difficulties as the reason.

In particular, “russian railways” is firing 15% of its central office staff – about 6,000 people. “yandex” is preparing its own wave of layoffs. russia’s largest publishing house, “prosveshchenie”, will have got rid of  at least 20% of its staff by August.

In parallel, a number of companies have entered into tacit “wage pacts” – agreeing not to poach employees from one another and to curb wage growth. The market, which is shrinking  from the outside, is being further frozen from within.

Analysts describe the structural shift taking place in the russian economy as a redistribution of labor resources in favor of the defense-industrial complex – at the expense of everything else. Civilian sectors, unable to compete with defense industry wages,  are losing skilled workers and are cutting back on production. It is telling that the shortage persists only where defense contracts create artificial demand: drivers, welders, and installers earn above the national average – while the rest of the market is shrinking.

Adaptation is happening out of necessity – a single income is no longer enough to live a normal life. Demand for part-time work has risen by 11%. 23% of working russians already have a side job, while  52% are looking for one – most actively in logistics (+97%), retail (+62%), and food service (+57%).

Official unemployment will remain “low”.  But only because people are formally counted as employed, scraping by on part-time work or occasional side jobs. The real picture is stagnating incomes and rising hidden unemployment. russia’s authorities will, of course, deny this.