Opportunities and prospects of the today’s labour market were discussed at the RUSSIA EXPO

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On April 12 at the International RUSSIA EXPO, Pavilion No. 457 "Coordination Center of the Government of the Russian Federation" hosted a plenary session "Labour Market: Opportunities for Job Seekers and Challenges for Employers" within the framework of the regional stage of the All-Russian Employment Fair. The participants discussed the implementation of the "Personnel" National Project, in-demand professions of the future and current challenges of the labour market.

"There is no need to explain to anyone today how important human resources are. This is confirmed by the work of the largest employers and those who train personnel for our industries at the current stage of the All-Russian Fair. At the very beginning of the fair, 18 thousand employers took part in it at one and a half thousand sites," emphasized Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Tatyana Golikova.

She noted that as of February 2024 Russia has record low unemployment rates, which means that we are increasingly exhausting the free resource available on the labour market. And so we must be extremely careful and efficient with what we have today.

"By 2030, we need to attract an additional one million skilled workers into the economy. According to our preliminary estimates, the expected additional employment to be brought into the economy is estimated at 2.4 million. However, we continue to work on this figure due to the fact that the country is facing new technological challenges and priorities announced by the President of the country in his Address to the Federal Assembly. And of course, we are very carefully assessing the real need for labour resources together with our employers and educational institutions," Tatyana Golikova said at the plenary session.

Deputy Prime Minister also noted that by the decision of the President the "Personnel" National Project will be launched next year, with its structure being formed at the moment. To date, the demands of more than 84 thousand organizations employing almost 12 million employees have already been collected. The personnel forecast will become a reference point for the education system and will help employers in formulating personnel strategies

"Given the development of our country's economy and our grand projects, the task of workforce training is crucial. I would like to address employers and invite them to maximize cooperation with the system of secondary vocational education. Let me remind you that we have 3196 colleges in operation. Over the past four years we have created an opportunity to increase the share of practical training up to 80%, have provided 1500 laboratories with modern equipment. And 80% of it is Russian-made," said Minister of Education of the Russian Federation Sergei Kravtsov.

The head of the Ministry of Education of Russia emphasized that today the share of technical specialties in colleges is 55.5%. He added that based on the forecast of staffing needs, which is prepared jointly by the Ministry of Education of Russia and the Ministry of Labour of Russia, the control figures of admission will be adjusted. Sergei Kravtsov said that in accordance with the instructions of the President of Russia, voiced in his Address to the Federal Assembly, a large program of major overhaul of colleges will begin in 2025. In addition, a vocational education technopark will be opened this year in Nizhny Novgorod, and another technopark is already operating in Kaluga.

According to Alexander Shokhin, President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), the choice of actions in the face of the task of ensuring Russia's technological sovereignty and its socio-economic development is obvious: labour productivity growth and highly qualified personnel are becoming key success factors.

"The needs for workers of a particular qualification may change, but we affirm that workers with secondary vocational education will be in demand for a long time. And that is why we pay a lot of attention to the employment fair, to projects such as "Professionality" and labour engineering schools," emphasized Alexander Shokhin.

The International RUSSIA EXPO is the most important achievements of the country gathered in one place. Throughout the Exposition, cultural events, a rich business and educational program await the guests. The expositions of 89 Russian regions, leading federal agencies, corporations and public organizations are presented to the visitors. More than 10 million people have already visited the Exposition. The International RUSSIA EXPO takes place at VDNH in Moscow from November 4 to July 8.

He noted that within the framework of the "Personnel" National Project it is necessary to ensure the fulfillment of several interrelated tasks.

"These are improving the system of higher and secondary vocational education in order to meet the needs of the labour market, increasing labour productivity, reducing labour costs, and tapping into the reserves of human resources," said the RSPP President.

Artem Kumpel, Senior Managing Director of Avito Work, elaborated on what professions are most in demand in the Russian labour market.

"The segment of workers and line professions remains the most demanded category by employers: in the first quarter of 2024, the top 3 areas by the number of posted vacancies on our platform include "production, raw materials, agriculture" (share of vacancies - 20%), "construction" (12%) and "transportation, logistics" (8.6%). The development of retail and e-commerce leads to an increased demand for couriers (7.2%) and taxi workers (3.6%)," Kumpel said.

In addition, he noted that in 2022 and 2023, Russian companies entered the salary race and the level of average salaries noticeably increased. "When comparing the average salary offers for a full-time schedule on our platform, for the entire years 2022 and 2023, the level of salaries increased by 35%. Now the growth rate has started to slow down and employers have turned their attention to other ways to attract staff," Kumpel told.

The All-Russian Employment Fair "Work of Russia. Time of Opportunities" is an annual event, which in 2024 is held on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation. The purpose of the event is to promptly assist industrial enterprises in personnel recruitment, as well as help job seekers find employment. Along with operational tasks, the All-Russian Employment Fair is also aimed at promoting working and engineering professions, as well as popularizing industrial enterprises and scientific organizations as employers.

The International RUSSIA EXPO is the most important achievements of the country gathered in one place. Throughout the Exposition, cultural events, a rich business and educational program await the guests. The expositions of 89 Russian regions, leading federal agencies, corporations and public organizations are presented to the visitors. More than 10 million people have already visited the Exposition. The International RUSSIA EXPO takes place at VDNH in Moscow from November 4 to July 8.