Russia is going to see shrinking demand for office workers, commonly known as white collars. At the same time, representatives of blue-collar trades will be increasingly sought after because the labor market is now running a deficit of such workforce, according to a forecast included in the Central Bank’s recent monetary policy report.
Experts have long feared a growing unemployment among office workers – this process began long before the current crisis and even before the pandemic.
Interestingly, the Soviet economy’s transition towards the modern one promoted a steady growth of white-collar employment. Now this trend has reversed, says economist Sergei Khestanov, Associate Professor at RANEPA.
“The growing market demand for office workers has raised the value of their services. The current decline will predictably lower it,” the expert explains. “Retraining office workers to do manual jobs will not be a quick and easy process either.”