Russia's war in Ukraine has drained it of labor — it lacks nearly 5 million workers this year, report says

• Russia's economy was 4.8 million workers short this year, according to Reuters.
• Workforce vacancies rose 6.8% in 2023, climbing up from 5.8% a year ago.

Russia's economy was short nearly 5 million workers this year according to Reuters, which cited a news report from Russian newspaper Izvestia.

The finding is based on experts and research from the Russian Academy of Science's Institute of Economics, which found that the number of total workforce vacancies rose to 6.8% by the middle of 2023, jumping from 5.8% a year prior.

"If we extend the data presented by Rosstat (the official statistics agency) to the entire workforce, the shortage of workers in 2023 will tentatively amount to 4.8 million people," Izvestia quoted the study as saying.

The war has been a major driver of the country's labor crisis. Workers have been pulled into the conflict or forced to flee as President Vladimir Putin enacted a major mobilization to bolster wartime recruitment earlier this year.

By April, the mass exodus of Russians out of the country was estimated at around one million. That same month, a Russian central bank survey found that worker availability had hit its lowest level since 1998.

Last month, Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina warned that continued workforce depletion is threatening Russian economic growth.

"Unemployment is 3% and in some regions it is even lower. This means there are practically no workers left in the economy, the situation with personnel is really very acute," she told lawmakers in November. "For further growth of the Russian economy, increased labor productivity is needed."

Analysts have previously outlined that the problem could exacerbate inflation in the country, while also wrecking Russia's economic potential in the long term as college-educated workers continue to emigrate.

To counteract lackluster workforce numbers, Moscow has taken alternative measures, such as leaning on prison labor to supply needed industry manpower, a think tank said last month.