Russia: sharp decline in the number of people looking for work
The Russian Government has reported a sharp decline in the number of people looking for work after millions of losses in Ukraine
17.10.2025
Article published on the moscowtimes.ru website
“Russia’s potential labour force (PLF) has more than halved over the last five years”, said Olga Batalina, the Federation’s Deputy Labour Minister, attributing this to increased employment “in every age group”.
The PLF consists of those who have been looking for employment for some time, or are available for work but have not yet been able to find a job. The Deputy Minister did not provide precise figures but, according to Rosstat data, this section of the population numbered 835,000 people at the end of 2023 (the lowest since 2013) out of a total work force of 76 million people. The peak PLF level was recorded in 2020 – 1.6 million.
At a recent meeting of the SO-Znanie economic forum, Batalina said that this was creating “significant tension in the labour market” and that in the near future, competition for personnel and labour resources will be a determining factor in production efficiency. She stressed that “in order to reduce the fierce competition for workers in 20-25 years’ time, it will be necessary to increase the national birth rate now”. To this end, she has called for the development and implementation of appropriate programmes within companies. “We have looked at how they can help employees make the decision to have a child, as well as supporting pregnant women and those who have already given birth”.
Unemployment records continue to be set in Russia as a result of part of the economy being put on a war footing due to the invasion of Ukraine. In August, say Rosstat, the rate stood at a new historic low of 2.1% (from May-July it was 2.2% and last year – 2.5%).
The shrinking labour force is also due to the enormous losses being suffered on the front lines in Ukraine. According to estimates by the Centre for Strategic International Studies, Russia may have suffered more than one million casualties during the three and a half years of war, of which 250,000 have been killed and 400,000 disabled. “No war fought by the USSR or Russia since the Second World War comes close to the Ukrainian conflict in terms of the death toll”.
