How high-growth Russian companies aff ect the labour market and address the skilled labor shortage

The article examines the tension between the key role of high-growth companies in job creation and their persistent shortage of skilled production personnel in the Russian labour market. The study aims to identify the scale and structure of staffing challenges faced by such firms, to analyse their impact on employment, and to assess current practices of managing human capital. The empirical base combines federal statistics, a large-scale survey of high-growth enterprises, and a series of in-depth interviews with company executives conducted in 2024. Methodologically, the paper builds on the resource-based view and the concept of high-growth firms, as well as recent research on human capital and HR management. The authors apply quantitative methods to process statistical and survey data, complemented by qualitative content analysis of interviews. The findings show that high-growth companies act as employment stabilizers by absorbing labour released from less successful firms, yet face an acute shortage of blue-collar and engineering staff that constrains their further expansion. The study reveals a systemic mismatch between business needs and the capabilities of higher and vocational education, which results in a dominance of on-the-job training and fragmented cooperation with educational institutions. The paper concludes that targeted adjustment of state and education policy instruments to the needs of high-growth companies, along with the development of internal HR technologies and joint training and upskilling programmes, is required to mitigate human capital constraints on their growth.

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