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- Incomplete income: why Russia has recorded a boom in personnel savings for the first time in a decade
Incomplete income: why Russia has recorded a boom in personnel savings for the first time in a decade
In the third quarter of 2025, the number of partially employed Russians soared to 5.5 million, the highest since 2015. One in six works less than 40 hours a week or is on unpaid leave, according to FinExpertiza analytics based on Rosstat data (available to Izvestia). Experts record a 12% increase in this indicator (or 610 thousand people) and an eightfold increase in the number of part-time transfers initiated by employers. Paradoxically, this is happening against the backdrop of a cooling economy after the boom of 2023-2024. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
Who benefits from shorter hours
Companies in key industries are actively using part-time employment as a cost-saving tool, avoiding layoffs and maintaining a talent pool for future orders. The leaders are the hotel and restaurant business with 33.9% of the partially employed (124.9 thousand people), the manufacturing industry (27%, 1.6 million people, including the automotive industry with 44.8%), construction (22.7%, 271.3 thousand people).
"The benefits of part—time employment are primarily received by companies that thus save on costs associated with the need to dismiss employees under Article 180 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation," says Alexander Safonov, professor at the Financial University under the Government, former Deputy Minister of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation.
He notes that the maximum cost of reduction is three average monthly salaries, which for an employee with an average salary of 98,193 rubles saves about 294 thousand rubles, and for a minimum wage of 22,440 rubles, respectively, 67 thousand rubles.
This practice allows you to maintain operations and licenses, minimizing seasonal downturns. Oksana Dmitrieva, former Minister of Labor of the Russian Federation, State Duma deputy, notes that the main reason for the increase in underemployment last year is the so-called cooling of the economy and a reduction in production at many enterprises, which in 2023-2024 showed an increase in production and, consequently, increased employment due to import substitution.
However, in turn, Vladimir Smirnov, Acting Director General of the All-Russian Research Institute of Labor (under the Ministry of Labor), believes that in order to assess the situation on the labor market, it is necessary to consider statistical data in more detail. He believes that it is incorrect to claim that the increase in the number of part—time employees is solely due to the unfavorable situation of employers. The amount of time worked is also significantly influenced by the factor of involving more and more broad categories of applicants in employment, including those on flexible, non-standard terms, including employees who combine study and work, or young parents.
Regions without layoffs: industrial belt
In industrialized regions, part-time employment has actually replaced mass layoffs, helping companies flexibly respond to fluctuations in demand and government orders. The Perm Region leads with 21.7% of the partially employed, followed by the Nizhny Novgorod Region (21.6%), Chelyabinsk (20.9%), Yaroslavl (20.3%), Udmurtia (19.8%), St. Petersburg and the Sverdlovsk Region (19.5% each).
The growth of part—time employment is a specific signal: companies are increasingly saving not on employees, but on their working hours, says ASI expert, ex-senator Olga Epifanova. This is especially noticeable in industry, construction, transport, and sectors with a high proportion of government orders.
That is, formally, people are not fired in order to maintain staff and employment indicators, but in fact this is a manifestation of hidden unemployment.
Blow to wallets: the scale of losses
In recent months, the real incomes of workers on unpaid leave have been falling to zero, during downtime — by at least a third, with a reduced schedule or week — in proportion to the hours. In the third quarter of 2025, the number of people on unpaid leave increased by 9.3%, to 4 million, in idle time — by 62.6%, to 165 thousand, on part-time — by 12.7%, to 1.27 million, on a shortened week — by eight times, to 69.2 thousand. The total number of part—time employees increased by 12%, to 5.5 million (the share was 16.2%), and one in six people worked less than 40 hours a week or were idle.
— A double blow to well—being: the employee loses not only his current income, but also his future pension, - emphasizes Alexander Safonov. — The loss of 129.6 thousand rubles of pension contributions for six months for an average-paid employee is comparable to the loss of more than one and a half months of net salary. We are witnessing a hidden social stratification — the absolute losses vary significantly.
Oksana Dmitrieva notes the prevalence of this state of affairs in the higher education system.
— The second reason primarily concerns social industries, where wages should be at least two times the regional average. In the structure of higher education, this order is ensured by redistributing the same money while maintaining the same workload. At the same time, the employee is registered on a part-time basis, at a rate of 0.75. This practice is widespread and is used in many universities and scientific institutions," the expert admits.
However, according to Galina Yenyutina, managing partner of the Labor Consulting law firm, not all of the above statistics can be considered relevant.
"Often, there may also be higher—paying other employment behind downtime in order to receive double pay — both for downtime from one employer and for real work on the side," she believes.
Debts and risks
Declining incomes, in turn, affect liabilities: loan payments become more difficult to pay, and the number of delays and restructurings increases. Communal services take a back seat after food and medicine.
Olga Epifanova notes that the solution can only be comprehensive: the state should provide targeted support to enterprises that actually maintain employment, and not just formally keep people idle. It is necessary to expand measures of retraining and temporary employment, especially in industrially oriented regions, to stimulate the development of small businesses and self-employment, so that people do not fall out of economic circulation.
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