Employment distribution in Russia 2023, by industry

The largest share of employed persons in Russia was occupied in trade and car maintenance services, which accounted for over 15 percent of the workforce, or over 13 million people in 2023. Furthermore, 14 percent of the employment in the country was provided by the manufacturing sector.

Impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on employment in Russia

Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia has faced an exodus of international companies, which put their staff at risk of unemployment. Among foreign companies that limited operations or permanently left the Russian market, food industry businesses employed 136,000 people. Furthermore, automotive companies were reported to have 60 thousand employees in the country. The Russian government offered these companies to transfer their assets to domestic investors to minimize the effect on the labor market. The German home improvement retailer Obi, which had employed 4,900 people in Russia, did that in April 2022.