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Russia’s government is planning to resume major layoffs of public sector employees next year after they were put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic and full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kommersant business newspaper reported Monday.
Authorities began state service optimization reforms in 2019, which at the time saw around 10% of federal government employees lose their jobs amid a digitization rollout in the public sector.
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree last month ordering the territorial branches of federal government agencies to cut staff by 10% no later than July 1, 2025. This latest round of layoffs is expected to free up funding to provide remaining employees with higher salaries.
Around 400,000 people currently work in the territorial divisions of Russia’s federal agencies, which Kommersant said amounts to around 0.5% of the country’s overall workforce. Some agencies may be able to reach the layoff target by cutting unfilled positions, the newspaper wrote.
Those employees earn on average 60,300 rubles ($614) per month, or 45% less than their colleagues in federal agencies, according to Kommersant, citing a government document detailing the reforms. Earnings could increase up to 80,000 rubles per month depending on how many employees are impacted.
The layoffs will not impact employees of Russia-installed administrations in the four partially occupied Ukrainian regions Moscow claims to have annexed shortly after launching the full-scale invasion in February 2022.