The State Duma deputy linked the growth of underemployment in Russia with the cooling of the economy

Oksana Dmitrieva, former Minister of Labor of the Russian Federation and State Duma deputy, attributed the growth of underemployment in 2025 to the cooling of the economy and changes in the public sector. She stated this to Izvestia.

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According to her, the main reason for the increase in the share of part—time workers is the so-called cooling of the economy and a reduction in production at enterprises, which in 2023-2024 increased due to import substitution and the development of the military-industrial complex and expanded employment.

"In 2025, many companies, despite falling orders and declining production, did not massively reduce staff in order to retain qualified personnel in case of future growth and new purchases," she said.

In her opinion, this is part of cyclical leaps in the economy: after a period of growth, a planned recession has set in, which the government is now trying to overcome by "warming up" the economy again.

Separately, the economist highlighted the role of social industries. According to her, the second reason for the increase in underemployment is the decrees that salaries in higher education, science, healthcare and schools should not be lower than one or two regional averages. At the same time, the fulfillment of these requirements is often achieved not at the expense of a full-time rate, but by registering part-time employees or 0.75 rates while maintaining the same workload, she noted.

Dmitrieva stressed that this practice has become widespread in universities and scientific institutions and directly affects the statistics of part-time employment. As a result, according to her assessment, the growth of underemployment is explained simultaneously by the economic downturn, the desire of employers to retain staff, and the formal implementation of decrees on salaries in the public sector.

Earlier it became known that the number of partially employed workers in Russia has reached its maximum since 2015. According to analysts of the Finexpertiza audit and consulting network based on data provided by Rosstat, approximately one in six employees works less than 40 hours a week, is on unpaid leave or idle time.

Read more in the Izvestia article:

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