From a place to a career: the demand for retraining is growing rapidly in Russia
There is a steady increase in interest in retraining in Russia. Thus, more than 84 thousand applications have been submitted for programs under the national project "Personnel", the Ministry of Labor reported. This is almost a third higher than in the same period last year. The areas related to artificial intelligence are in the greatest demand, but there is still interest in working professions, in particular, in the professions of welders and pumping station machinists. At the same time, employers have stepped up recruitment for positions with the possibility of pre-training. According to analysts, the availability of such programs increases the interest of applicants in vacancies by two to four times. For more information, see the Izvestia article.
How interest in retraining is growing
Within the framework of the national project "Personnel" in 2025, about 119 thousand people received new professional knowledge. At the same time, since the beginning of this year, more than 84 thousand applications have been submitted for free retraining programs, the Ministry of Labor told Izvestia. They estimated an increase in interest of about a third.
"We see that this support measure is in demand not only from citizens, but also from employers who connect their corporate centers and train their employees for free to meet their tasks," Anton Kotyakov, Minister of Labor and Social Protection, told Izvestia. "In 2026, 190 corporate and basic educational organizations joined the project."
The ministry's press service reported that more than 5,700 programs in 213 professions are available on the Work of Russia platform.
"The most popular ones are those that help to acquire additional digital skills, as well as social and working professions," the department said.
Most of the applications were sent by residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg‑St. Petersburg, Tatarstan, Samara and Irkutsk regions. The most popular retraining program in Moscow is "Working with artificial intelligence systems", in St. Petersburg‑In St. Petersburg and the Irkutsk region — 1C Developer, in Tatarstan ‑ Care Assistant (babysitter), in the Samara region — Information Systems and Programming Specialist. In Tomsk, the "UAV operator" is in the lead, in the DPR and LPR — the "Pumping unit driver", and in Kurgan — the "Nurse".
Men most often choose the programs "1C-developer", "Welder of manual arc welding with a melting coated electrode", "Operator of unmanned aircraft systems" for retraining within the framework of the national project. Women — "Specialist in working with artificial intelligence systems", "Implementation and use of neural networks in an organization", "Care assistant".
The retraining operators are Tomsk State University, the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, the Institute for the Development of Vocational Education and the All-Russian Research Institute of Labor.
Rinat Fayzullin, a leading researcher at the Directorate of Priority Educational Initiatives of the General Academic Faculty of the Presidential Academy (RANEPA), confirmed that there is indeed a growing interest in retraining.
"Low unemployment has led to increased competition for employees in the labor market, including due to rising salaries in certain industries," he said. — Such salary growth occurs unevenly, and a person himself begins to be interested in opportunities to change his profession to a higher-paying one, get additional qualifications or upgrade some specific skills.
Expert of the Presidential Academy (RANEPA) Tatiana Podolskaya noted that the growing interest is due to strict necessity, and such programs are a quick tool for mastering missing competencies for specific production tasks.
—The Russian labor market will be structurally transformed in 2026," she noted. — It is estimated that the shortage of personnel by 2030 may amount to about 2.4 million people.
At the same time, the imbalance is particularly noticeable across industries: with an abundance of specialists in the field of law and economics, there remains an acute shortage of workers and engineers. In fact, she stressed, the labor market is shifting away from the "white collar" towards the real sector and IT.
Why do they want to retrain
The motivation of applicants is to try to convert an unclaimed diploma into a liquid profession, Tatiana Podolskaya believes.
"Employees see that former office workers are successfully moving into the real sector or the service sector, and they strive to be the first to take this place," the expert said. — And the analysis of the demand for retraining suggests that it is applied and technological in nature.
She explained that now the demand for those who want to retrain is divided into three key blocks. These are the real sector and defense, digitalization and the social sphere and services. The latter is due to the shortage of nurses, specialists in the field of tourism and hospitality.
Earlier, the NAFI analytical center published a study, according to the results of which the public consciousness is dominated by the attitude that it is possible to get a high-paying job in a new specialty without a second higher education. Retraining courses are enough to master new skills, 79% of Russians believed. The majority of respondents (77%) believed that any additional training has a positive effect on their career trajectory.
"In general, additional education among working Russians is associated either with improving competencies within the current specialty, or with mastering new skills unrelated to current work," the researchers stated.
Deputy Head of the Federal Service for Labor and Employment, Jan Talbatsky, noted that the programs for the national project "Personnel" have been consistently improved, as a result, product recognition is growing, and the customer path is simplified.
—Word of mouth also works to benefit retraining: over 80% of graduates of our short courses are employed, that is, they are employed or developing their business," he told Izvestia. — We did a long—term study, tracked how graduates' careers are developing, and we see steady wage growth.
Employers are also ready to retrain
Against the background of a shortage of personnel, employers are lowering the threshold for entry into working professions, according to a study of the qualified blue-collar market conducted by Avito Rabota in the first quarter of 2026.
"Companies are increasingly ready to hire employees without experience and train them on the spot, expanding the recruitment funnel in mass work roles," it says.
Analysts note that now the reserve of free labor is almost exhausted, unemployment remains at a minimum, and employment is close to a maximum of 61.5%. And every tenth workplace in industry, construction, transport, as well as agriculture and forestry is vacant.
As a result, the proportion of vacancies with on-site training in construction increased from 20% to 46% over the year, making the industry one of the most open to applicants without experience. In metalworking and industry, employers are also willing to consider newcomers, but training as part of the offer is less common.
Despite the fact that such vacancies still account for about a third of the market, they consistently attract more applicants in all groups of working professions.
"Offering training is one of the most effective levers for attracting staff in conditions of shortage," analysts say. "In some cases, this tactic leads to a two— to four–fold increase in candidates."
Sergey Samokhvalov, a partner at the SBS consulting company, added that the business challenge of retraining is also acute for companies undergoing transformation into digital business - banks, insurance companies, representatives of the telecommunications industry, and retailers.
— However, the vector is changing. If five years ago it was considered relevant to convert from an operator to a tester or analyst, then new educational programs will be required due to the spread of artificial intelligence," he said.
Rinat Fayzullin called retraining one of the effective mechanisms of the state to harmonize the labor market. According to him, the development of digital skills is among the most sought—after areas.
"Retraining, which will automate some of the work functions through digitalization, including with AI, increases the productivity of a particular employee," he explained. — As a result, at the macroeconomic level, the number of working people with such skills is able to produce more benefits for society than those who do not possess them. And this can resolve the shortage of personnel.
The expert expressed confidence that there should be awareness of the need for this both on the part of the employer and on the part of employees.
And Elena Witchak, a professor of business practice at the Moscow School of Management Skolkovo, named the top competencies that affect the speed of retraining. These are, in particular, the ability to work in conjunction with AI, cognitive flexibility and the ability to quickly master new skills.
Retraining helps to reduce the personnel shortage, but it does not completely solve the problem, says Ekaterina Movsesyan, CEO of the Kros agency. According to her, this tool allows you to cover point needs — first of all, where you can quickly grow a person to a working function, but it "does not create shots out of thin air."
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