16:48, 05/18/23

There are not enough workers for 35% of Russian enterprises.

Russia has its worst labor shortage since President Vladimir Putin first came to power.

This is evidenced by the results of a survey conducted by the Russian Institute for Economic Policy named after Yegor Gaidar, which polls the heads of about 1,000 industrial enterprises in the country every month, Politico reports .

In April, a survey showed that 35% of enterprises lack workers. The Institute said that this is the highest figure since 1996. The shortage is partly due to the mobilization of the Russian population, which began in September last year.

This information was confirmed by Sergey Tsukhlo, head of the laboratory of business surveys of the Scientific direction “Real Sector” of the Institute for the Economy in Transition, stating that the shortage of personnel in the country is a “deep and long-term problem” that hinders the country’s industrial growth.

According to Tsukhlo, the deficit is most acute in light industry and engineering. And while the exit of Western brands such as McDonald’s and Starbucks has opened up opportunities for local entrepreneurs, the shortage of workers now means “there is simply no one to produce in their place.”

The collapse of the Russian economy
According to the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, in the first four months of 2023, federal budget revenues decreased by 22% compared to the same period in 2022.

Expenses increased by 26%. The overall budget deficit amounted to 3.42 trillion rubles, while in the annual plan of the Ministry of Finance, the budget deficit for the whole of 2023 was to be 2.9 trillion rubles.

Oil and gas revenues of the Russian budget in January-April decreased by 52% compared to the same period last year and amounted to 2.2 trillion rubles, according to a statement on the website of the Ministry of Finance.

On May 12, 2023, the Kremlin urged not to worry about a huge hole in the Russian budget . Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said that the situation with the budget, the deficit of which by the end of April reached 3.4 trillion rubles, or $44 billion, is “absolutely controllable.”

For 4 months of 2022, the Russian government spent 1.4 times more than it collected in the form of taxes. With revenues of 7.8 trillion rubles, expenses reached 11.2 trillion.

In April, the budget deficit exceeded 1 trillion rubles, and the decline in oil and gas revenues accelerated to 64% after 43-46% in January-March.

(C)UNIAN 2023