In Russia, the demand for warehouse personnel is reduced
The transition of consumers to the savings model and a slowdown in the growth rate of retail turnover led to a decrease in the load on the logistics industry. Demand for linear personnel in it, including warehous workers, after a two -year growth cycle decreased by 15% of the year by the year. This can slow down the growth of salaries and reduce the attractiveness of the direction for part of the applicants.
The number of vacancies in the transport and logistics industry, which includes warehouse personnel, in April-May decreased by 15% by the year, was calculated in Superjob and Ozon. This decrease is more pronounced than in the Russian labor market as a whole, where the number of vacancies per year has decreased by 11%. According to HeadHunter, in April – May employers published 130 thousand ads on the search for employees in the field of transport, logistics and transportation. A year by the year, the indicator decreased by 28%. The Logistic company PEC talks about a decrease in the number of vacancies in the warehouse segment and logistics by 5-15% per year, depending on the category.
According to Superjob and Ozon, the most noticeable demand for employees of the transport and logistics industry was reduced in the Stavropol Territory and the Sverdlovsk region by 19%. In the Saratov region, the fall amounted to 17%, in the Leningrad, Novosibirsk and Nizhny Novgorod region – 16%. In Moscow and the Moscow Region, employers’ demand fell by 14% and 8%, respectively, in St. Petersburg-by 8%.
At the same time, there are more applicants.
In April, the number of resumes in the labor market as a whole increased by 2% year by the year, and in the transport and logistics industry-by 12%, they counted Superjob and Ozon. This effect is most noticeable in the Krasnodar Territory and Tatarstan, where growth was 18% and 15%, respectively. In the Sverdlovsk, Novosibirsk and Nizhny Novgorod regions, the indicator grew by 14%. HeadHunter noticed an increase in the activity of applicants in the segment by 54% year by the year. Specialists placed or updated 861 thousand resumes.
The head of the Department for Work with Warehouse and Production Premises of the IBC Real Estate, Evgeny Pocump, connects the cooling of demand for warehouse personnel with a general slowdown in the growth of the economy. Consumer demand is reduced, and the population is gradually moving on to the savings model: this is reflected in the loads of logistics capacities and, accordingly, the need for personnel, reasoned by the head of the department of warehouse and industrial real estate Core.xp Anton Alyabyev. According to Rosstat, the retail turnover in Russia in January -March amounted to 14.05 trillion rubles, increasing by 3.2% a year by the year. In 2024, a similar increase was estimated at 10.5%.
The main employers in the field of logistics and transport are marketplaces who reduced their activity, says Stanislav Akhmedzyanov, managing partner of IBC Global.
According to NF Group, in January -March, participants in the electronic trade market made 11% of the total volume of transactions for rental and purchase of warehouses. Over the year, the indicator decreased by 36 percentage points. The market as a whole is not the best time: Nikoliers expect that the demand for warehouses in Russia in 2025 will be reduced by a third, to 3.7 million square meters. m.
Stanislav Akhmedzyanov notes that most vacancies in warehouses form linear unskilled positions: movers, sets, storekeepers, packagers. The need for them can be reduced with an increase in automation. Drivers are required less due to a reduction in automobile cargo transportation, says Irina Pak, HR-director of the NC Logistic 3PL operator. Demand for them in the domestic market in January -March 2025 decreased by 1% year by the year, according to ATI.SU (See “Kommersant” from April 15).
Before the start of cooling, the labor market in logistics was overheated for two years, continues Ms. Pak. But now, according to the head of the personnel department of the Scythian Cargo transport company, Eva Klimentenko, the companies closed the main needs, and the bulk of the candidates found the job.
The situation has already led to a slowdown in the growth rates of unqualified workers, Mr. Akhmedzyanov believes. The industry has become less attractive to part of the applicants. For example, drivers of heavy vehicles go to work on a light commercial or in a taxi, says Irina Pak. But the market remains seasonality and a reduction in demand for frames can now be replaced by an increase in the number of vacancies in August – September, says the head of the PEC personnel department: LTL Daria Samoilova.
