Where salaries are being raised and removal is allowed: the labor market has entered a new phase

IRINA MISHINA

Job is looking for employees

Valuable workers are going through «golden» times, their salaries are being raised. Employers are being pushed to do this by a personnel shortage against the background of record low unemployment. Salaries of employees have already been increased by more than 70% of companies. The goal is to retain qualified employees. In addition, to combat personnel starvation, companies allow employees to «remote» and issue reservations from mobilization. According to RBC, every third company today is trying to retain employees, giving them the opportunity to work on more favorable terms with the possibility of part—time work, and every fourth is making a mobilization reservation.

As reported by NI in the Superjob high-paying job search service, 56% of employers have indexed salaries over the past 6 months.

The highest salary growth over the past six months is in the field of information technology +3% for six months and +8% for a year; in construction +3% for six months and +6.8% for a year, in the field of advertising marketing and PR — +2.7% for six months and +6.4% for a year.

Companies use approximately the same tools to attract new employees. More than 60% of companies offer a hybrid form of work with «remote», and the basic remuneration is higher than the average salary in the market — 56%.

Employers today call IT specialists (developers, business analysts, information security specialists, etc.) among the most popular specialties. 54% of companies reported a shortage of them. About a third of companies have a high demand for production workers and engineering specialties.

This trend was confirmed to us by the recruitment agency HH.RU. Here's what the chief expert of HH told.RU labor market expert Natalia Danina:

«According to the survey, more than 40% of companies revised salaries during the 1st half of 2023 (mainly in January and April), 39% are going to revise salaries during the 2nd half of 2023 (mainly in December). As support measures, employers offer flexible working conditions: flexible hours, part-time employment, remote work, the possibility of part-time work, as well as a decent salary. At the same time, in heavy industry and retail, they are ready to increase the salary fund more than others, and in the extractive industry, they are ready to increase the budget for training, development and retraining.»

Valuable employees don't stay in one place too long?

A natural question arises: what caused such a sharp turn of employers «face to employees»? And what caused the personnel shortage against the background of record low unemployment?

«Recently, many people have observed a trend: employees do not stay in one place too long and often run from one employer to another. In Russia, the turnover of labor has increased. That is, people are actively moving between different enterprises and places of work. There is a huge level of open vacancies in the labor market right now. There are up to 3 vacancies per unemployed person. And this is not only in the IT industry, which everyone is talking about, this happens everywhere! The labor market is now in such a mode that employers cannot find employees and are ready for anything. Of course, the demographic pit plays a role. But the „coronacrisis“ had a greater impact on this, which led to a structural redistribution of the economy: some professions became unprofitable, such as the restaurant business, while others — couriers and delivery — on the contrary are in demand. The transfer of the economy to paramilitary rails, the shortage of male labor was also added. Salary increases and flexible schedules are ways to solve this problem,» Rostislav Kapelyushnikov, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Chief Researcher at the Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Deputy told NI.Director of the Center for Labor Research, Higher School of Economics

Where are employees waiting for highly paid positions in the first place today?

The Superjob job search service provides the following data: most resumes (an increase of almost 50%) are in industry and manufacturing. Here employers are waiting for skilled workers, craftsmen. Then — tourism, hotels, catering. There are 46% more resumes here, employers are looking primarily for cooks and bakers. Next — construction, there is a 39% increase in resume. Engineers and production workers are expected in this industry.

«Now there is a salary race: valuable workers are being lured away with higher rewards,» says the deputy.Rostislav Kapelyushnikov, Director of the Center for Labor Research at the Higher School of Economics.

Pensioners pushed young people?

Interesting trends have begun to occur in the labor market among people of retirement age. It all started with the fact that there are fewer pensioners receiving a full-fledged old-age pension in Russia. The number of working pensioners has increased.

«A significant reduction in the number of pensioners in Russia is primarily due to the fact that this year none of the citizens retire due to old age,» explained Deputy Chairman of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions David Krishtal. According to forecasts, in 2023, as well as in 2025 and 2027, only those who are entitled to it ahead of schedule will be able to retire — for long service and living in the conditions of the Far North. Officials, artists and doctors also fall under this privilege.

Those over 50 and over 60 are increasingly entering the labor market and becoming in demand. Experts note: today, the difficult situation with demographics and a shortage of personnel works for the benefit of age-related employees. The cohort of applicants 50+ has recently demonstrated increased activity.

«During the first half of 2023, the average number of active resumes of pensioners per month is 237 thousand, this exceeds the indicator of the same period last year. During this period, employers sent over 3.5 million invitations to this audience of applicants for their vacancies. This is much higher than in 2022. If we talk about salaries, then according to the survey results hh.ru the vast majority, almost 70% of employers, employees' salaries do not differ due to their age,» says the chief expert of HH.RU labor market expert Natalia Danina.

Employers' interest in applicants in the age group of 40-60 years is due to the demographic situation, which does not allow attracting, as before, exclusively «young, sociable». Every year able-bodied Russians will grow up, reducing the number of younger age cohorts. In these conditions, companies that monitor trends in the labor market are building new strategies. They attract age-related applicants by collecting the best personnel available on the market.

«This year, employers began to consider and hire older applicants (45+) more often,» confirms the General director of the Work service.<url>» Alexander Veterkov.

«According to hh.ru, the most active applicants at retirement age are invited to vacancies for workers, home, service personnel, in the fields of transport and logistics, sales and customer service, production and service, as well as to work in finance and accounting,» explained the chief expert of HH.RU labor market expert Natalia Danina .

Some of these «age» vacancies, especially in the construction sector, offer high salaries. For example, drivers of categories B and C in Podolsk and Tomsk is ready to pay up to 150 thousand rubles — the same as the head of the construction site in Moscow, and the mechanic-assembler in Domodedovo — from 100 thousand rubles. There is a high demand for age-related candidates in medicine. These are doctors, nurses, nurses, palliative care specialists.

HR specialists consider responsible attitude to work (60%), extensive experience (59%) and high level of qualification (56%) to be the main advantages of people of the older age group.