The paid non-working days currently enforced in Russia due to the coronavirus pandemic through the end of April may result in the increase in latent unemployment for the labor market.
“Mid-level employees have a certain feeling of security but it is deceiving,” claims Artur Makaov, CEO of the Borodino business hotel.
He shared this opinion during a roundtable meeting on the pandemic and its impact on the labor market organized by the Economics Club of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) and the Institute of Industry Management within the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.
For a while, people will be paid their usual salaries – perhaps, for a month. However, on a global scale, if the economy does not recover as fast as it collapsed, sooner or later they will be out of the door, Makaov noted.
As a result, many are not seeking for a new job – which they probably should be doing.
“Right now, a false paradigm is being formed that employers must pay their staff. As long as this is happening, workers will not agree to any temporary opportunities,” Artur Makaov added.
According to HR Director at Easy Group and HR expert Julia Degteva, for now, even workers who found themselves unemployed are reluctant to change the area of occupation. Most job openings are in logistics, including warehouse, packaging and delivery jobs. The demand is particularly high in the grocery retail.
Julia Degteva suggests that people are hesitant to take new jobs because they are not fully realizing that not all market segments will be able to recover fast.