Personnel crisis in Russia: Demand for workers aged 50+ doubles

Russian companies, against the backdrop of a labour shortage, have started to recruit workers aged over 50 en masse. In January-May, the number of such job offers was almost twice as high as last year.

Source: Izvestia, citing data from hh.ru

Details: According to the recruitment platform hh.ru, in January-May 2025, Russian employers sent 5.1 million job offers to people over the age of 50. This is 95% more than in the same period last year.

Experts attribute the increase in demand for older workers to the demographic decline, the effects of the war and the pension reform launched by Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Viktor Lyashko, researcher at the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, said that the reform has led to pensions being received by those who should have retired several years ago.

Pre-retirees are most needed in positions of labourers, in logistics, construction, sales, service and manufacturing. The advantages of such employees are experience, loyalty and lower salary expectations, experts say.

Meanwhile, competition for jobs among older candidates remains high. They account for only 4% of all job offers, while young candidates aged 19-30 receive 42% of job offers.

Background: In 2018, Russia raised the retirement age to 65 for men and 60 for women. This has led to an increase in the number of people forced to stay in the labour market.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!