The problem of personnel shortage in the industrial sector of the economy: reasons and directions for solution

The events that began in February 2022, and the subsequent new, much more serious Western sanctions, as well as the departure of a number of foreign companies from the country, required a significant intensification of the work of Russian industry. However, it turned out that enterprises in the real sector of the economy are acutely short of engineering, technical and labor personnel. The largest enterprises that have received serious government orders solve the personnel problem by sharply increasing wages. At the same time, up to half of industrial enterprises indicate a continuing shortage of personnel. The article presents a retrospective description of the situation with staffing in Russian industry. It is shown that, starting from the “default” of 1999, with the onset of the next crisis, declarations are made about the importance of developing one's own industry and a corresponding turn in economic policy is announced, however, in reality, practically nothing changes, as evidenced by the current personnel crisis. Research conducted with the participation of the author over the past twenty years and concerning the labor mobility of university graduates (2005); students' ideas about the demand for engineering work (2007 and 2010); work of vocational education institutions in an industrialized city (2014); personnel supply in priority industries (2016-2017), made it possible to identify the reasons for the personnel shortage and the conditions for overcoming it. The key reasons are the low level of profitability of industrial enterprises, instability of workload, unclear prospects, and the root cause is an economic policy built on initially incorrect postulates and in the interests of global competitors. Accordingly, the condition for overcoming the personnel shortage is, firstly, the implementation of such monetary, fiscal and foreign trade policies that would allow the high-tech sector to reach the level of profitability necessary to attract and retain qualified labor. And, secondly, the state builds an effective strategic planning system that allows enterprises to reliably plan their activities for the long term.