The massive departure of foreign companies from Russia because of the war in Ukraine has put some 600,000 Russian jobs at risk. That said, an official of the Russian ruling party to TASS news agency. Economists, therefore, expect unemployment in Russia to rise sharply.
Due to Western sanctions against Russia, large companies such as McDonald’s, Adidas and BMW have shut down their activities in Russia. However, many foreign companies will continue to pay the wages of Russian employees for some time.
According to the ruling United Russia party secretary, companies from “unfriendly countries” accounted for about 2 million jobs before the war broke out. Therefore, he believes that everything must be done to protect those employees’ jobs.
Research shows that more than 750 foreign companies have now scaled down their activities in Russia to a greater or lesser extent. The unemployment rate in Russia stood at 4.1 percent in March, which was the lowest level ever. However, economists think unemployment could rise to more than 7 percent this year, which would be the first in more than a decade.
In addition to the major impact on the Russian labour market due to the war, the country’s economy is also likely to suffer major damage. Earlier this week, the Russian economy ministry said that there could be a contraction of more than 12 percent this year.