According to a report by the BBC‘s Russian service on October 1st, Russian defense production facilities are facing a severe shortage of personnel and are actively recruiting tens of thousands of factory workers. This is due to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has drained the country’s labor market and created intense competition between the military and businesses for new recruits. As a result, there has been a significant increase in the production of weapons and military equipment.
The investigation by the BBC found that Russia has posted thousands of job ads for shift workers at defense enterprises, offering triple the standard pay and other incentives such as recruiting young people and rewarding referrals for new hires. Between August 15th and September 15th, more than 90,000 vacancies for defense industry jobs were listed on Russian job portals. Salaries for high-demand specialties were also significantly higher than the average regional salary. However, there is a shortage of engineers, turners, and CNC machine operators in Russia.
The job portal Avito received 2,000 resumes for turners and only 60,000 position openings in September. Similarly, for CNC operators, there were only 600 resumes for 18,600 vacancies, despite the attractive salaries. At Kurganmashzavod, a plant that produces infantry fighting vehicles in Russia’s Kurgan Oblast, there were 78 open slots for machine tool adjusters and CNC operators as of September 4th.
This shortage of workers in defense facilities reflects the overall labor shortage in Russia, which has been exacerbated by military mobilization and a decrease in the number of migrants entering the country. Russia is also facing a population crisis, with an expected decline of around 7 million people over the next two decades.
To attract workers, factories have been offering higher salaries and temporary housing for employees recruited from other regions. In the Tatarstan Republic, a program was implemented in spring 2024 to employ minors aged 14-18 in the defense industry. Additionally, a draft amendment to the legislation on alternative service was submitted to Russia’s State Duma in June 2024, proposing that new conscripts be given the option to work in the defense industry instead of military service.
However, working in Russian defense industry plants can be grueling, with some positions requiring 11-hour shifts with no days off. When a BBC correspondent inquired about the length of a shift, the recruiter refused to provide the information but immediately offered to hire the reporter.
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