Teenagers, elderly people and even prisoners are plugging drastic holes in the Russian workforce created by people being recruited into the army or fleeing the country.
The war in Ukraine has led to a shortage of around one million people in Russia’s labour market, according to independent demographer Alexey Raksha.
This includes between 300,000 to 500,000 who were recruited to the army in last year’s mobilisation, and at least half a million more who have left the country since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
