The Kremlin is burning?

[Stefan Kotsch]

1 hour ago, Roman Alymov said:

On 12/29/2024 at 6:02 PM, Stefan Kotsch said:

The borders between Finland and the USSR were clarified under international law before autumn 1939 and recognized by both states. ...

A lot od borders were changed since 1939. 

That is correct. The states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were annexed and incorporated into the Soviet Union. Poland was invaded and part of Poland was declared Soviet territory. Bessarabia was annexed.
Afterwards, extensive reprisals were committed against the inhabitants. The Soviet firing squads had a lot of work. The gulags filled up with more forced laborers. Until the 1990s, the Soviet Union determined what 'freedom' meant.

Edited December 31, 2024 by Stefan Kotsch

[Stefan Kotsch]

And because the year is coming to an end. Here are a few nice words from Russia:

User 246628601:
I have no doubt.
As always, with wise leadership, we will overcome whatever challenges life throws at us.
We will finally “bore” ourselves with a “green candy wrapper”, we will send the spaceship into the sun, we will put a “hazel tree [Oreshnik]” in every yard.
And we will do even more good things in the new year 2025.
Happy holidays, dear comrades!

https://www.e1.ru/text/economics/2024/12/31/74930174/comments/?commentId=102928863

Edited December 31, 2024 by Stefan Kotsch

[JWB]

According to data from Russian police, the largest single transfer to fraudsters by Russians in 2024 amounted to 180 million rubles ($1,6 million), reportedly sent by a single "pensioner." The Russian economy is expected to lose approximately 1 trillion rubles in a year due to fraudsters' activities. 

Despite efforts by banks to combat fraud, Russians remain highly susceptible to scams, with the stolen funds allegedly being used to buy drones for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and other activities.

https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1874006287219900617

[Roman Alymov]

42 minutes ago, JWB said:

According to data from Russian police, the largest single transfer to fraudsters by Russians in 2024 amounted to 180 million rubles ($1,6 million), reportedly sent by a single "pensioner." The Russian economy is expected to lose approximately 1 trillion rubles in a year due to fraudsters' activities. 

Despite efforts by banks to combat fraud, Russians remain highly susceptible to scams, with the stolen funds allegedly being used to buy drones for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and other activities.

https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1874006287219900617

Soo UkrArmy is funded by criminal money  Mind you, phone fraudsters from Ukraine are also operating against Western countries (of course in smaller scale, as it takes good command of English and other languages, while their native Russian is good for calls to Russia). 

     This guys are calling me from time to time, and i usually try to hold them busy for as long as possible, to prevent them "attacking" other people who are less experienced. For example. below is fake letter "to FSB director  from bank transfers monitoring service deputy director" they have created in attempts to convince me

Edited December 31, 2024 by Roman Alymov

[Roman Alymov]

Back to "Russian culture elite" and bureoucrats who are in charge of "Russian culture"

"Created to "promote Russian literature abroad" by the ANO Institute of Translation (https://gorillanews.rw/institut-perevoda-vydaval-granty ) paid thousands of dollars to the Ukrainian nationalist publisher Anetta Antonenko, who advocated the ban of Russian books in Ukraine and donated to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Yevgeny Reznichenko, director of the Institute of Translation, issued debt loans from controlled commercial firms to his de facto state institution, siphoning off over ₽1 million from the assets of the organization entrusted to him in 2020-22 as "interest on loans." During the same period, about 11 million rubles were transferred from the account of the Translation Institute to the accounts of companies founded or directed by the director of the Translation Institute himself, under the guise of "contract agreements" (for example, ~1.3 million rubles were spent on "preparing video content for the book fair in Tehran-2022"). Russia's presence at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2020, which was the responsibility of the Institute of Translation, cost ₽5.75 million in budget money, despite the fact that due to the pandemic, the event was held online. ~₽1.8 million was spent on "creating databases of book fair participants", transferred to the liquidated sole proprietor. The Institute of Translation also paid about 70,000 euros for the translation of 16 books by Guzel "crystal stream of urine" Yakhina, who condemned SVO. And the translation of a book by Vladimir Sorokin (a painter of sodomy orgies who compared Putin to Hitler) into Hebrew took € 3.1 thousand from the Russian budget, according to an investigation by Edward Chesnokov." (https://t.me/wendy_music/1570)

[Stefan Kotsch]

The mood outside Moscow, far from where Roman lives. Happy new year!

Reader comment satirizes Putin's speech:

'Citizens, I assure you that temporary difficulties will soon end and permanent difficulties will begin.'

Agreed: 83 Rejected:0

https://74.ru/text/economics/2025/01/03/74955095/comments/?commentId=102981869

[Roman Alymov]

1 hour ago, Stefan Kotsch said:

The mood outside Moscow, far from where Roman lives. Happy new year!

Reader comment satirizes Putin's speech:

'Citizens, I assure you that temporary difficulties will soon end and permanent difficulties will begin.'

Agreed: 83 Rejected:0

https://74.ru/text/economics/2025/01/03/74955095/comments/?commentId=102981869

First, thank you for your efforts in familiarising TankNet international audience with Russian jikes - this one is based on President Medvedev's speech at least as early as 2018 Временные трудности закончились и начинаются постоянные: Дмитрий... | Интересный контент в группе Вологда-Поиск

Even listed in anecdotes compilations Анекдот №1247946 Президент заверил граждан, что временные трудности скоро… Анекдоты 170908 Временные трудности заканчиваются, и наступает время постоянных.

Second, unfortunatelly for some reason you are very selective in your choice of comments to bring here - here are few others from the page you quote from, few lines under your quote:

"Insatiable, sneaky temporary workers, whose whole purpose in life is to line their pockets and escape to countries they so patriotically dislike, where they have money, children, and businesses."

"The daughter of the press secretary of a carpenter-taxi driver* lived very patriotically in France and received higher education there, for example. 
And for some reason, the daughters of the carpenter-taxi driver himself preferred to get an education away from the country that their dad has been leading for 20 years."

* Putin

As you see, even as far away as Chelyabinsk people do not like pro-Western compradors....

 

[Stefan Kotsch]

38 minutes ago, Roman Alymov said:

this one is based on President Medvedev's speech at least as early as 2018

The comment columns breathe this legendary black Soviet humor from every pore. That's what's fascinating about Soviet-Russian jokes. They have remained so timeless that they never seem to lose their relevance. No wonder, the staff has changed - but the spirit of those in power remains unchanged.

Edited January 3 by Stefan Kotsch

[Roman Alymov]

12 minutes ago, Stefan Kotsch said:

The comment columns breathe this legendary black Soviet humor from every pore. That's what's fascinating about Soviet-Russian jokes. They have remained so timeless that they never seem to lose their relevance. No wonder, the staff has changed - but the spirit of those in power remains unchanged.

Congratulations, one small step out of Western bmedia bubble - and you have just rediscovered old knowlege formulated in quote usually associated with PM Pyotr Stolypin, 1862-1911 (Pyotr Stolypin - Wikipedia) "In Russia, everything changes in 10 years, nothing in 200 years."

     I hope now you see how useful is reading Russian sources

Edited January 3 by Roman Alymov

[Roman Alymov]

Back to real problems of Russian economy

(translated fromНужна ли нам армия курьеров?  )

"January 3, 2025,

Do we need an army of couriers?

 
The Ministry of Industry and Trade has already called a huge number of couriers a problem — "healthy, physically strong people" who are so lacking in other sectors of the economy and who have discouraged Russians from shopping. And at the same time, many people have already got used to the fact that you can order a courier with one lemon, which is needed for a cup of tea right now. Is this normal? What should I do about it and do I need to do at least something?

There are more and more couriers, and their salaries continue to grow. Federal officials are already complaining about the skew in the economy, and the real sector is sounding the alarm due to staff shortages.

News that couriers had overtaken teachers, doctors, accountants, bank employees, and, as it seemed recently, representatives of the top IT league appeared almost every month in 2024, because the salaries of delivery workers were growing at a galloping pace.

According to the data hh.ru At the beginning of December 2024, the average salary of couriers was 110 thousand rubles. Despite the fact that it has already grown by 33% over the previous year. And here, only from January to July, the increase was 24% compared to the same period last year. And these are not the final numbers. Couriers' salaries can exceed 200,000 rubles per month (nearly as much as frontline soldier is paid in RusArmy - RA), and during the New Year period they can exceed this level significantly.

However, when the media publish such statistics, it is not always taken into account that those who earn a lot of money in this business are those who work literally hard — 12 hours a day without days off and holidays, and so on. This job is hellish. But! Numbers are a stubborn thing. The army of couriers in Russia today is equal in number to the regular army: 1.5 million people each. In the case of couriers — from 1.5 million, Nikita Kuznetsov, director of the Department for the Development of Domestic Trade at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, clarified in December.

"At least 1.5 million couriers are currently working in Russia, as well as about 500,000 packers, order pickers and other employees. All together, they have already weaned "a significant part of consumers from the banal skill of just going shopping," the representative of the department believes. At the same time, the services themselves are unprofitable, and their work is supported by other resources. In other words, unprofitable services attract such a scarce resource as labor from other sectors of the economy, including productive ones. <...> And an unproductive, and even unprofitable segment subsidized by someone, drags off these labor resources, worsening the economic situation of profitable segments," says the RBC article, the publication quotes Nikita Kuznetsov, said at one of the round tables where this problem was discussed.

 
Pavel Veshaev
, Finance expert at the Moscow branch of Opora Russia, Head of FinHelp
"If it is necessary to pay, for example, a courier's salary, then this will usually go through self-employment and a marketplace. He will pay only about 6%: to pay, for example, 100 rubles, he will pay 6 rubles. And the same owner, but, for example, a factory, in order to pay an employee the same 100 rubles, he will need to add 43.2% to this. That is, this difference of 37% is very drastic, and it does not allow us to compete. And in fact, couriers receive more due to simply unequal tax histories. 37% is a significant difference."

Last year, Oleg Korobchenko, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Tatarstan, called for everything to be done so that "a huge army of couriers, pizza delivery men and taxi drivers would go to work in factories." At the end of 2024, Alexey Zakharov, the head of the Superjob service, also announced a serious imbalance in the Russian labor market. In his opinion, it is abnormal when a courier earns three to five times more than a teacher. And Sergey Anureev, a professor at the Department of Public Finance at the Financial University, even suggested introducing a tax on taxis and delivery.

Businessmen who were asked by the Business FM radio station to evaluate such initiatives were categorically opposed to strict regulation from above. The editorial team believes that everything should be regulated by the market. But the market is not working out yet. After all, even those who complain about the distortions in the economy and the couriers flying at them with crazy speed on electric bicycles with a screen that looks more like a glazed balcony, who loudly resent all this, come home and order courier delivery themselves. Because it's convenient. Ilya Zalivukhin, an architect and urban planner, continues the story.:

Ilya Zalivukhin
architect, urban planner, urbanist
"[This phenomenon was caused by] the very planning structure of our cities, the lack of street retail, and the zoning of the city relative to transport hubs. For example, in Japan or in other major world cities, there are streets and street retailers on the skytrain where you buy the necessary products on the way home. Our city is designed differently, although, of course, there are some elements of the global urban environment, but due to the fact that the country developed in a different way after 1917 - large neighborhoods were built, there was no private property, and so on, there was no developed street trade. Therefore, you see, this phenomenon did not appear in Moscow by chance, it was caused by a chain of events over 100 years."

But courier delivery is not only convenient, but also almost free. If you are ready to wait a couple of hours, it is free without any "almost". And if you need a lemon in 15 minutes, you'll either have to pay a couple hundred rubles, or add something else to the lemon for a reasonable amount. Why not dial it? After all, the prices of the products themselves in delivery are the same as on store shelves! And here lies the main secret. It is not free or almost free shipping. These products in the store have gone up in price, because their cost also includes the option of sending by courier.

Perhaps in the future, the retail market will come to the point where products on the shelf will cost less than in delivery. It is possible that the cost of delivery will increase dramatically, because any attempts to put at least the movement of couriers around the city in order will inevitably lead to an increase in prices for this service. Getting them all to drive something certified with headlights, hearses, and so on is a plus to the cost of the service. Limiting the speed of movement and imposing fines is also a plus to the cost. Fines for driving on the sidewalk are the same. And all this will be done sooner or later, Konstantin Krokhmal, head and administrator of the public Road Safety Management system, is sure.:

Konstantin Krokhmal, head and administrator of the public road Safety system
, "We just need to ban the movement of any vehicle — scooters, bicycles, and so on — on the sidewalk. That's it. The European experience and, most importantly, the Chinese experience have shown that then the problem is solved automatically."

However, many of the radio station's interlocutors, with whom the editorial staff spoke on this topic during the year, came to the conclusion that order on roads, sidewalks and the labor market would come when human couriers would be replaced by robots. Maybe. But then, for the same lemon, a person will have to go down from his conditional seventh floor. And globally, we have already lost the habit of such inconveniences and physical exertion. Which calls into question the prospect of robotization of the delivery market. It would be interesting to discuss this philosophical topic with the courier. By the way, the nearest one will bring me a lemon in about 15 minutes.

[Stefan Kotsch]

2 hours ago, Roman Alymov said:

Congratulations, one small step out of Western bmedia bubble and you have just rediscovered old knowlege ...

@Roman Alymov, you are forgetting once again that I lived  31 years into real socialism. Together with our 'big brother', the Soviet Union.

Edited January 3 by Stefan Kotsch

[Stefan Kotsch]

2 hours ago, Roman Alymov said:

Back to real problems of Russian economy

Do we need an army of couriers?

These are Russia's real problems?

[Roman Alymov]

10 minutes ago, Stefan Kotsch said:

These are Russia's real problems?

Do you really believe it is normal to have as many couriers as entire Army is normal? Not to mention that

1) This army of couriers is sideeffect of crazy ideology that for last 30 years was doing its best to convert Russians into brainless consumers (another side effect is birth rate drop - who need children when priority is wall-size fkat screen TV set to watch useless series?)

2) Significant part of this army of couriers are illegal migrants from Central Asia who are breeding ground for radical Islamism, even despite of their relatively high income.

[Roman Alymov]

26 minutes ago, Stefan Kotsch said:

@Roman Alymov, you are forgetting once again that I lived  31 years into real socialism. Together with our 'big brother', the Soviet Union.

Unfortunatelly, it seems like this years have not made you Soviet habits of thinking out of the box (especially out of the media box - "reading between newspaper lines"). Probably German Socialism was more like Angsoc, not like the Socialism in Russia, land of riots and scepticism.

[Stefan Kotsch]

6 minutes ago, Roman Alymov said:

21 minutes ago, Stefan Kotsch said:

These are Russia's real problems?

Do you really believe it is normal to have as many couriers as entire Army is normal? Not to mention that

In a socialist planned economy this may be a problem for the state. In a market economy, the market regulates the number of courier drivers. But not the government.

Many years ago I once asked on Facebook why President Putin regulates the filling of individual city police positions for the city of Moscow. The Russian users didn't understand what my concern was. 'But it is the capital!' - was the general tenor.
An uprising would break out in Deutschland if the Bundeskanzler wanted to interfere in the mayors' affairs. There would be flak in the media. In good German language - a shit storm.

[glenn239]

50 minutes ago, Stefan Kotsch said:

@Roman Alymov, you are forgetting once again that I lived  31 years into real socialism. Together with our 'big brother', the Soviet Union.

Nobody here forgets that Stefan.  However, you might be advised to keep in mind that some of us write off as useless all your opinions on the war  and on the direction of the Russian economy precisely because of the three decades that seem to color everything you say.

Edited January 3 by glenn239

[urbanoid]

1 hour ago, Roman Alymov said:

Do you really believe it is normal to have as many couriers as entire Army is normal? Not to mention that

1) This army of couriers is sideeffect of crazy ideology that for last 30 years was doing its best to convert Russians into brainless consumers (another side effect is birth rate drop - who need children when priority is wall-size fkat screen TV set to watch useless series?)

2) Significant part of this army of couriers are illegal migrants from Central Asia who are breeding ground for radical Islamism, even despite of their relatively high income.

I believe it may be normal to have more of the former than of the latter as the economy has largely shifted into e-commerce. 

While I haven't found the reliable data about how many of them we have here, I learned that the number of packages exceeded a billion - in a 40-mil country, in 2019 it was less than half that number - of packages, not people obviously.

[Roman Alymov]

1 hour ago, urbanoid said:

I believe it may be normal to have more of the former than of the latter as the economy has largely shifted into e-commerce. 

Most of this courier crowd have nothing to do with e-commerce as it is food delivery. E-commerce by itself is a good thing as it reduces the demand for shopping malls, shops crews etc. (and by the way significantly boosting war efforts as now soldiers and their families could easily purchase next to everything except weapons into any corner of Russia), but we as society must pressure "business" from using "slave labor" of numerous Uzbeks and Tajiks and Kirgiz to more automation of the process.

[Roman Alymov]

3 hours ago, Stefan Kotsch said:

In a socialist planned economy this may be a problem for the state. In a market economy, the market regulates the number of courier drivers. But not the government.

  I'm sory but no economy is "market economy", significant part of "market laws" are in fact results of state regulation like taxes and so on.  See the article fir example if how state regulation (or lack of) is deforming job market

"If it is necessary to pay, for example, a courier's salary, then this will usually go through self-employment and a marketplace. He will pay only about 6%: to pay, for example, 100 rubles, he will pay 6 rubles. And the same owner, but, for example, a factory, in order to pay an employee the same 100 rubles, he will need to add 43.2% to this. That is, this difference of 37% is very drastic, and it does not allow us to compete. And in fact, couriers receive more due to simply unequal tax histories. 37% is a significant difference.

[Roman Alymov]

3 hours ago, Stefan Kotsch said:

Many years ago I once asked on Facebook why President Putin regulates the filling of individual city police positions for the city of Moscow. The Russian users didn't understand what my concern was. 'But it is the capital!' - was the general tenor.

 First, it is not exactly correct: Moscow Police head is subordinated directly to Minister of Interrior and, as it is normal for officials of this level, is appointed by President on proposition of Minister and with concur of Mayor. Second, instead of playing games on Facebook, it would have been vise step to look into the history of the matter. You would have found that traditionally, from Russian Empire time, Moscow police (under different names) was subbordinated to head of Moscow city (be it General-governer of collective head - Mosgorspolkom ("Executive commetee of Moscow Sovet"), except for chaotic reforms of Stalin and Khruschev time when structure was changed back and forse. But, surprise, since 1991 the system was changed and Moscow police became subordinated to Ministry of Interrior (formal "second supordination" to Moscow mayor was still in place for few years). Guess why? New elite of Russia (and thgeir Western owners) where shit scared of "communists and nationalists revanche". Back then Putin was just jobless retired KGB officer....

4 hours ago, Stefan Kotsch said:

An uprising would break out in Deutschland if the Bundeskanzler wanted to interfere in the mayors' affairs. There would be flak in the media. In good German language - a shit storm.

Back in 1993, there was uprising in Moscow. It was supressed by tanks, with full support of West.

[urbanoid]

31 minutes ago, Roman Alymov said:

Most of this courier crowd have nothing to do with e-commerce as it is food delivery. E-commerce by itself is a good thing as it reduces the demand for shopping malls, shops crews etc. (and by the way significantly boosting war efforts as now soldiers and their families could easily purchase next to everything except weapons into any corner of Russia), but we as society must pressure "business" from using "slave labor" of numerous Uzbeks and Tajiks and Kirgiz to more automation of the process.

Nothing wrong with food delivery either?

There's a lot wrong with importing fuck knows who in the first place though, I'll grant you that.

Although I'm not sure how you'd want to automate food delivery.

[Roman Alymov]

Just now, urbanoid said:

Nothing wrong with food delivery either?

It is clearly redundant, especially for country at war. The scale it took in Russia is sideeffect of misregulation in taxation and other legal limitations, including presence of uncontrolled migrant inflow. 

     As result, first (and most lasting) impressions of tourists from Moscow in better regulated places like Belarussia is "Yes may be they live not so rich, but there are no "blacks" on the streets"

[Roman Alymov]

Another article on Russian job market Сварщики, электрики и курьеры потеснили IT-специалистов по уровню заработков

"December 30, 2024,
Welders, electricians, and couriers have pushed out IT specialists from top of the list  in terms of earnings

In 2024, workers and mass professions, amid rising salaries and record-low unemployment, have become much more attractive compared to previous years: a welder in Moscow — 500 thousand rubles per month, a courier by car, as well as on New Year's holidays — 300 thousand, an electrician on a quiet schedule - 150 thousand rubles.

In 2024, many representatives of the working professions took a serious step towards the top league — IT specialists. Very generous salaries can now be found among them. An absolute record holder in terms of numbers was a welder's vacancy in Moscow: Irina Kaklyugina, head of the Moscow Department of Education, said in an interview that an experienced specialist could now earn up to 500,000 rubles a month. Qualifications and knowledge of specialized techniques are crucial, but the figure is still impressive.

Outside of Moscow, earnings are, of course, more modest, but also decent, says Aziz Akhmedov, a welder from St. Petersburg and owner of Oasis-Mix.:

— Welders' salaries have grown very well. Because there is a shortage of welders, people do not go for lower salaries. I know welders, they go to construction and production sites, they are already trying to negotiate not on salary, but on a percentage. The minimum wage is now 100-120 thousand, they earn up to 250 thousand.

— Up to 500 thousand even welders' salaries.

— A former colleague switched to welding galvanized pipes, four years ago his salary was 240 thousand. Due to the fact that the degree of harmfulness is very high. The shortage of welders in St. Petersburg is very large. Everyone asks each other if there are any welders. I searched for a long time, but I couldn't find it.

According to the same Moscow Department of Education, after welders come locksmiths who earn up to 350 thousand rubles a month, and operators of numerically controlled machines, whose income can reach 300 thousand rubles.

Interestingly, the working profession of the working profession is different: electricians, for example, earn much less. I have to take part-time jobs, says Alexander, a foreman from the Tula region, a senior shift foreman at the electrical workshop.:

— In 2024, salaries at our company, I believe, have increased very much — by 60-70%. A year ago, my net salary was 65 thousand rubles. At the moment, my salary is 110 thousand rubles. The salary of the workers in the specialties was 45 thousand rubles, but it became about 70-85 thousand rubles. I work shifts at the company. On my days off, and I've probably been working for 13 years, still working part-time, fulfilling private orders. That is, there is always work.

— In total, how much can you earn?

— Now I have about 140 thousand, probably. 140-150 thousand on average.

We will highlight couriers in a separate line, as usual. They had particularly serious earnings on New Year's Eve, however, the couriers' salaries were kept at a very decent level throughout the year. Of course, couriers are a profession in which incomes can vary significantly based on the number of orders, transport, city, and other conditions. However, the army of couriers and their salaries are growing dramatically. Alexey Zakharov, the head of Superjob, said in a recent interview with Kommersant: "We have a shortage of 500,000 teachers. But the pizza arrives in 15 minutes." In his opinion, couriers should not earn five times more than teachers. But this is an opinion. But the reality is different. Says the courier Kirill:

"Let's count. An order in Vkusville for a courier costs 100 rubles. These are the couriers who ride on mopeds. If he works 12 hours a day and delivers 100 orders a day, it's difficult to earn these 10,000 rubles a day. The second type of couriers is on foot, but they travel through Moscow, such a long distance, it's like Dostavista, Yandex. Today there is peak delivery, prices are good, but there are practically only such days in the second half of December. You can really earn 5-7 thousand a day. And there are car orders — expensive, long distance, you can earn a maximum of 10-15 thousand per day. Accordingly, on average couriers earn 150,000 per month. It's good if he earns that much. In December, up to 200,000 is possible, but you have to work 12 hours every day."

Later, Kirill, the courier, prepared more accurate calculations for Business FM. According to him, a courier on a bike earns an average of one thousand rubles per hour. That is, he may well receive 300 thousand rubles for a ten-hour shift. A foot courier has a lower speed and density of orders, so in December it turns out to be around 200 thousand. Car couriers easily make 300 thousand a month, Kirill says. But then the car costs are added.

But what about the IT sector, where traditionally there have been the highest salaries? She feels great, says Olesya Sagalakova, HR Director at Bitrix24.:

— The trends of the past years remain. The most highly paid and in—demand specialists are specialists in the IT field. Our salary growth over the year ranged from 25% to 30% in different grades. Seniors and middles are the specialists who are missing and will be missed for many more years.

— What is their approximate salary level?

— From 250 thousand. It all depends on the stack, the language they write in, the team, and the part of the product the guys are working on. There are only a few specialists who speak the Go language, and their incomes definitely exceed 500 thousand rubles.

The most scarce specialties by the end of 2024, according to hh.ru . janitors, turners and welders have become. The 20 most scarce professions include those requiring high qualifications: pharmacists, doctors, and electricians. But there is always a shortage of mass professions such as couriers, cooks, bakers and janitors. As Alexey Zakharov, the founder of Superjob, noted, the labor market in Russia is unbalanced "as a result of questionable government regulation." According to him, the service sector is developing at a faster pace in Russia, attracting more and more people from the real sector. Natalia Golovanova, head of the Superjob Research Center, continues.:

Natalia Golovanova
, Head of the Superjob Research Center
"Companies are adapting to the situation of personnel shortage primarily by removing barriers to hiring. The competition for personnel is still being won by the service sector. Wages are rising faster than inflation and are gaining momentum, with a trend towards staff retention. The most sought-after categories of personnel in 2024 were skilled workers, truck drivers, special equipment machinists, retail employees, warehouse staff, and couriers. The top 10 highest median salaries consist of two thirds of programmers and one eighth of doctors: dentists, surgeons, cosmetologists. In 2024, the developer was offered the most <for programming> in the Kotlin language — 360 thousand rubles per month. On the seventh line — dentist, surgeon, on the ninth-tenth — reproductologist, cosmetologist, 240 thousand and 230 thousand rubles, respectively."

More than 1.5 million vacancies are currently posted on the Job of Russia portal. By the end of 2024, according to Rosstat, unemployment in the country has fallen to a record low of 2.3%, which is just under 2 million people. In other words, the number of vacancies roughly matches the number of Russians looking for work. There has never been such a thing in the history of Russia.

Economists call such a seemingly favorable labor market situation one of the main paradoxes of 2024: the lower the unemployment rate, the better it is not necessarily for the economy. Experts fear that if demand in the labor market increasingly exceeds supply, the economy will be more and more constrained. And if you add galloping wage growth rates, production costs and prices will grow faster and faster. After all, the more money people have that they are willing to spend, the faster inflation will accelerate. And we don't need that at all."

[urbanoid]

10 minutes ago, Roman Alymov said:

It is clearly redundant, especially for country at war. The scale it took in Russia is sideeffect of misregulation in taxation and other legal limitations, including presence of uncontrolled migrant inflow. 

     As result, first (and most lasting) impressions of tourists from Moscow in better regulated places like Belarussia is "Yes may be they live not so rich, but there are no "blacks" on the streets"

I don't think Muscovites would be happy with Belarusian living standards. Well, quite a few Belarusians aren't either, they're the second most numerous foreigners here, according to some data even 300k+.

On the bright side, no "black" (in either Western or Eastern meaning) has ever delivered my food. 

[Roman Alymov]

Just now, urbanoid said:

I don't think Muscovites would be happy with Belarusian living standards. 

It depends, especially when it comes to raising children in safe envirionment. Belorussia is famous to be extremely law-obidient and safe place. 

3 minutes ago, urbanoid said:

 Well, quite a few Belarusians aren't either, they're the second most numerous foreigners here, according to some data even 300k+.

In this respect they are not so much different from some people from Russian regions who mostly go "to conquer Moscow" looking for higher payment ( but for Belorussians Poland is often closer distance to go then Russia). There is no official data on how many citizens of Belorussia are working in Russia (as we are sort of union state and they do not need any registration) but estimated number is about 200k or even 400k if we believe Wiki Belarusians in Russia - Wikipedia