Stress points: The Cadres for the Economy of the Future program solves the problems of today

Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed to take measures against officials who miss classes in the Cadres for the Economy of the Future program, launched in 2026. 43% completed the first module, and 62% completed the second, so the president demanded to deal with low attendance and those who are formally undergoing training. How this program can improve the human resources situation, as well as what problems in the labor market are expected in the coming years — in the Izvestia article

Management personnel

Cadres for the Economy of the Future is an educational project that was launched in June 2026 for federal and regional managers involved in employment, personnel policy and human capital development. The program was initiated on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation after a meeting of the State Council. The main task is to prepare managers for the changes in the labor market caused by the rapid development of technology and to support Russia's technological leadership.

Participants study the impact of artificial intelligence on professions and employment, and master methods for calculating the future economic need for specialists by region and industry. Special attention is paid to the practical application of technology: managers develop and implement digital solutions using AI, including on the basis of educational campuses. The program is focused on ensuring that decisions in the field of personnel policy are based on modern technologies and accurate forecasts.

At the same time, President Vladimir Putin called on representatives of the civil service to become more actively involved in the Cadres for the Economy of the Future program, launched in 2026. The Head of State noted that the announced participation does not always turn into real work within the framework of training. Putin pointed out the problems in two directions at once: Attendance remains low, and learning outcomes are also not high enough. Against this background, he called on the presidential administration to take action.

It is expected that the training of current managers will help to go beyond daily tasks, look at work processes more broadly and share practical solutions with colleagues. This format provides an opportunity to explore new approaches and use them to better manage the areas for which participants are responsible.

Participants of the program master modern ways of working with statistics in the field of employment and education, learn how to quickly analyze data, and also get acquainted with the use of technologies and artificial intelligence in the labor field, Darina Medvednikova, a junior researcher at the Center for Spatial Analysis and Regional Diagnostics of the Presidential Academy, told Izvestia. This knowledge will help to better assess future changes and timely adjust the training of specialists to meet the changing needs of the economy.

Forecasts of the entire market

In Russia, 17.9 billion rubles are provided for the implementation of the Cadres national project in 2025, 15.6 billion rubles in 2026 and 17.3 billion rubles in 2027. The funds are used to manage the labor market, train personnel, support employment and create conditions for the employment of people with disabilities.

Since 2022, Russian companies and the government have actively used various ways to mitigate the personnel shortage. By 2026, the share of enterprises regularly facing critical staff shortages has decreased from 95% to 81%, and in some industries to 35%.

One of the main tools was the "salary race": companies raised salaries and offered large bonuses for the transition, which quickly closed difficult vacancies, but at the same time increased costs and inflationary pressures. Referral programs turned out to be more effective — up to 60% of deficient positions were closed through employee recommendations. The expansion of social security packages and VMI helped retain specialists, and internal training reduced dependence on external hiring: by 2026, 58% of companies used their own training programs.

Employers have also expanded the range of candidates: they have become more active in hiring people over 45-50 years old, pensioners, women and undergraduates. Outsourcing and artificial intelligence have created an additional reserve: about half of the companies have transferred some functions to external performers, reducing the need to expand office staff.

At the same time, the national project "Labor Productivity" allowed individual enterprises to increase production by 10-30% without additional hiring, and the "Professionalism" program restructured college training to meet the demands of employers. On the contrary, the attraction of workers from the CIS countries has become less effective due to changes in migration conditions and the outflow of foreign labor.

As a result, the labor market was able to partially reduce the severity of the deficit by using internal reserves, automation and a more flexible personnel policy. However, the shortage of skilled workers and engineering and technical specialists (IT) persists. Increasing the length of work and additional shifts help businesses only temporarily: the demographic decline in the workforce cannot be eliminated by management decisions alone. Therefore, the long-term effect is possible primarily through increased productivity, retraining and technology.

In the coming years, the Russian economy will continue to face a steady shortage of workers. With unemployment at about 2.1–2.4%, the main constraints will be demographic changes, a reduction in the number of people aged 30-39, the retirement of senior professionals and an insufficient influx of young staff. This will lead to the need to replace millions of employees and at the same time solve the problem of the discrepancy between existing competencies and the needs of employers.

The most noticeable shortage will remain among blue—collar workers - skilled workers for industry, construction, logistics and warehousing. Doctors and engineering and technical specialists (IT specialists) will also be in demand. The situation in IT and office professions will be heterogeneous: there may be too many new employees, while companies lack experienced experts in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and data analysis. A separate problem will remain the gap between training in educational institutions and the real demands of business, as well as the difficulty of retraining older workers in an automated environment.

At the same time, the opportunities for continuous salary increases will be limited by the financial resources of companies. Businesses will have to move away from a simple staff expansion model and rely on productivity growth, workflow restructuring, automation, and the introduction of artificial intelligence. Therefore, the personnel shortage will be solved not only by finding new employees, but also by using existing resources more efficiently.

In the coming years, the personnel shortage is likely to persist due to demographic decline, structural and geographical mismatch of supply and demand, competition for personnel between sectors and low labor productivity, and additional demand may arise with increased investment, Vladislav Bukharsky, Director of Sovereign and Regional Ratings at Expert RA agency, told Izvestia. To solve these problems, productivity gains through automation, robotics and AI, retraining and advanced training, attracting foreign labor, adjusting employment conditions and more accurate forecasting of personnel needs with the adaptation of the education system are used.

Izvestia sent a request to the Ministry of Labor, but no response had been received at the time of publication.