Main points
- In the fourth quarter of 2025, the number of officially laid-off workers in Russia reached 32.6 thousand, which is 59% more than a year earlier.
- The Moscow city government has approved a 15% reduction in civil servants and a 10% cut in the investment program due to lower-than-planned budget revenue growth.
Rosinyai are losing their jobs en masse / Collage by Channel 24, photo Shutterstock
The labor market in Russia is literally collapsing. And even if the country's authorities tried, they wouldn't be able to hide it. In particular, Russians are actively losing their jobs – teachers, doctors, etc.
What is happening with the Russian labor market?
In the fourth quarter of 2025, the number of officially laid-off employees reached 32.6 thousand people, as reported by the Foreign Intelligence Service.
This is 59% more than a year earlier. And the most affected were:
- public administration and security (4.9 thousand);
- healthcare (4.6 thousand);
- education (3.8 thousand);
- manufacturing industry (3.9 thousand).
Simply put, it is precisely those industries that are fed by the state budget that
– explained in the investigation.
At the same time, private business in Russia massively avoids official dismissal procedures. So how do employers act? They simply “ask” people to write a statement of their own free will. That's why the statistics look better than they really are.
However, in 2026, things got worse – even Moscow's budget revenues for January-February grew by only 2%, when 6.5% was planned.
In response, on March 4, the city government adopted a certain “optimization”:
- reduction of civil servants by 15%;
- cutting the investment program by 10%;
- freezing of some development projects and cultural events.
Even Moscow – the city with the largest budget resources in the country – cannot cope,
– emphasized the SWR of Ukraine.
And the country's authorities call the situation “labor market stabilization.” At the same time, economists describe the situation quite differently: Russia is moving from a shortage of personnel to a hidden surplus of labor.
Pay attention! The demand for workers remains. But only in those sectors that serve the war.
In particular, “The Moscow Times” has already written that, amid budget problems, salaries for people in the healthcare sector have begun to be cut.
Reducing cash payments will save about 107 billion rubles in the medical sector this year.
Russian subjects “chronically lack money for healthcare.” The problem is that the priority right now is the war against Ukraine and everything related to it.
What else should you know about labor market problems in Russia?
- Russia is experiencing a shortage of workers, so the country's authorities are planning to allow teenagers to work in industries that were previously considered dangerous.
- At the same time, there are also problems with salaries in the business sector. The fact is that the salaries of some specialists have stopped growing due to inflation.