The discussion focused on tools for meeting the economy’s staffing requirements.
Taking part in the meeting were deputy prime ministers Tatyana Golikova and Dmitry Chernyshenko, Chairman of the State Council Commission on Human Resources, Kaluga Region Governor Vladislav Shapsha, Minister of Labour and Social Protection Anton Kotyakov, representatives of the Presidential Directorate for the Formation and Activities of the State Council of the Russian Federation, federal executive authorities, regions, state corporations and others.
In her opening remarks, Tatyana Golikova outlined the main trends that must be taken into account when forming an effective set of measures to respond to developments in the labour market.
“Together with the State Council Commission, all regions and federal executive authorities, we will be generating a forecast of staffing needs for the third consecutive year. It is currently being generated for a seven-year period, with the latest forecast extending to 2032. According to it, during this period we need to replace 11.5 million people due to retirement of older employees, and to attract half a million more due to the creation of new jobs. It is important that 66 percent of in-demand specialists are workers with secondary vocational education. That is why in recent years both the President and the Government have paid very close attention to the development of the secondary vocational education system and the Professionalitet federal project,” the Deputy Prime Minister emphasised.
Dmitry Chernyshenko noted that personnel is a key instrument for achieving Russia’s technological leadership – a national goal set by the President.
“This is not about fragmented actions by educational institutions and employers, but about comprehensive work involving the state, regions, business and the entire education system. The shortage of qualified personnel today is a direct barrier to the development of industry, science, energy and other priority sectors. It is important that in December 2025, the President chaired a State Council meeting on personnel policy. Following it, the President issued comprehensive instructions that set the direction of our work,” the Deputy Prime Minister stressed.
According to Vladislav Shapsha, staffing issues concern every region and every sector of the economy. To address it, it is necessary to use all effective instruments for attracting personnel to priority sectors of regional economies, including forecasting, career guidance and cooperation with employers, targeted admission and training, regional practices, as well as attracting highly qualified foreign specialists.
Anton Kotyakov paid particular attention to the employment of graduates: “Our main resource is young people. One of the key instruments is individual career support based on cooperation between educational organisations, employment centres and employers. Recent years have shown a steady decline in youth unemployment. The employment rate among college graduates has also shown positive dynamics, increasing by almost a third in percentage terms. In absolute figures, taking into account the growing number of students, 252,000 college graduates were employed one year after graduation in 2016. In 2025, more than 558,000 graduates were employed within just three months of receiving their degrees,” he said.
The meeting participants also discussed staffing needs of individual industrial sectors up to 2036, including the nuclear sector and the power industry, employers’ personnel training needs, measures to combat illegal employment, and other issues.