Clean labor: Russian companies have begun to reduce the hiring of employees
The number of open vacancies in Russian companies in the first months of 2025 decreased by 15% to 2.3 million, it was estimated in hh.ru for Izvestia. This trend was also noted in the Bank of Russia.: They note that the number of new vacancies is decreasing and more and more employers are optimizing the hiring of employees and increasing salaries. Businesses prefer to increase the amount of work for existing staff and raise their salaries — this will be cheaper than luring a new specialist from the market. The salary race and the competition for staff are over, and this year incomes will not grow as fast as last year. Why this is an important indicator of the cooling of the economy is in the Izvestia article.
How to find a job with a high salary in 2025
Companies have started to reduce their hiring. The number of vacancies posted decreased by 15% in the first months of 2025 compared to the same period last year, it was estimated in hh.ru for Izvestia. At the beginning of this year, 2.3 million vacancies were opened in Russia.
In previous years, the number of vacancies in the first quarter only increased. For comparison, from January to March 2024, a third more vacancies were posted than in 2023, the recruiting service said.
The Bank of Russia has also recorded a change in the hiring trend this year. The rigidity of the labor market has gradually begun to weaken, according to the Central Bank's March report on the regional economy. According to the regulator, although unemployment remains at a low level (according to the latest data, 2.4%), the number of new vacancies has decreased.
"More and more companies are reporting on optimizing their hiring plans and salary increases. But so far, the growth rate of the latter remains above the long—term average," the Central Bank notes.
The All–Russian Research Institute of Labor provided data for January-February 2025 — monitoring showed an increase in offers: the number of published vacancies increased by 2.2%, amounting to 2.7 million. Currently, there has been a decrease in the number of vacancies for accountants — by 13.3%, HR specialists — by 9.6%, sales clerks - by 9.1%, cooks — by 8.7%, said Vladimir Smirnov, acting general director of the organization. There is also a slight decrease in programmers.
According to the data hh.ru The slowdown in demand for workers is particularly characteristic of the business sector — human resources management (-31% of vacancies year-on-year), strategy, investment, consulting (-26%) and logistics (-25%). The growth in demand was noted in such areas as insurance, science, education, higher and middle management, as well as production and service.
— There are no massive staff reductions at the moment. However, a decrease in the number of open vacancies means that the "overheating" in the labor market has begun to wear off. There are still industries, especially those related to high technology and the state defense order, where staff shortages persist, but this means that there is money to pay higher salaries," explained Natalia Milchakova, a leading analyst at Freedom Finance Global.
Why did companies decide to reduce hiring
Companies are reducing hiring due to the difficult financial situation related to economic rates, says Lyudmila Ivanova-Shvets, Associate professor of the Basic Department of Human Resources Management at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation. Due to the high key rate, which the Central Bank maintained for the third time in a row at 21% per annum on March 21, the cost of corporate loans rose steadily above 25%. Servicing loans is expensive — as a result, companies stop investing in their development.
Natalia Milchakova believes that it is very difficult to solve the problem of personnel shortage for many small and medium-sized businesses. She added: due to inflation, employers are forced to index salaries, and in order to attract an employee from another organization, they need to be given a sensitive increase.
According to the data hh.ru In the country, the median salary offered (exactly half of the options are below this mark, the other half are higher) increased by almost 20% at the beginning of 2025 — from 65.4 thousand rubles in January—March 2024 to 77.2 thousand for the same period this year.
— At the same time, companies, against the background of more restrained growth in demand, declining profits and an increased tax burden, are becoming less able to continue increasing salaries at the same pace. Therefore, they try to optimize business processes, reducing the need for employees," said Olga Belenkaya, Head of the Macroeconomic Analysis Department at Finam.
How organizations solve the problem of staff shortage
Organizations are now trying to intensify their workload. This is reflected in the growth of internal part—time work - when one person is offered to do several tasks for an additional fee, and by increasing workload standards while maintaining the same salary level, said Alexander Safonov, professor at the Department of Psychology and Human Capital Development at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Mass Communications at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation.
— But for companies, this has a twofold meaning. On the one hand, the increased workload on staff encourages layoffs and the search for more favorable conditions for employees, and on the other hand, it reduces vacancies and the wage bill. At the same time, the issue of productivity is very acute: overloads reduce it and increase the likelihood of error, which affects the quality of results," said Alexander Safonov.
In addition, many companies resort to this practice when a person can change his position within the organization in which he works. This, in turn, helps to avoid opening new vacancies.
At the same time, reducing the number of vacancies on a particular portal does not mean reducing the number of jobs in the country as a whole, Vladimir Smirnov, Acting General Director of the All-Russian Research Institute of Labor, pointed out. He explained: This also indicates the adaptation of HR specialists who used a specific Internet resource to the new conditions - companies use not only job portals, employment centers, recruitment agencies, but also their own internal resources.
Organizations are also actively developing the competencies of existing employees through retraining and advanced training programs, Vladimir Smirnov added.
— In addition, large industrial companies are starting to work more effectively with young people who have just completed their studies and started looking for work. Now the interaction of employers with educational institutions has intensified — students are actively offered internships with the possibility of further employment," explained Olga Panina, Head of the Department of State and Municipal Management at the Financial University.
What will be the unemployment rate at the end of 2025
Since the middle of 2022, the labor market has been in a rather chaotic state, with supply and demand changing very dynamically. However, sooner or later it will stabilize, Lyudmila Ivanova-Shvets, associate Professor of the Basic Department of the Russian Federation Chamber of Commerce and Industry "Human Resource Management" at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, drew attention.
— This phase is just beginning — both employees and employers are acting more calmly in the current circumstances. Until 2022, the rules were mostly dictated by employers, and there were four to five or more candidates per vacancy. And now the market is on the side of people, and companies have practically no choice," the expert added.
The reduction in the number of vacancies is another important indicator that the economy has begun to cool down. In early March, Maxim Reshetnikov, the head of the Ministry of Energy, had already noted the trend. He then drew attention to other related indicators: a slowdown in growth in a number of industries and a reduction in business orders.
As a result, unemployment may rise from record lows to 3.2% this year, experts say.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
