Russia in Crisis - Joe Blogs

[TexasTowelie]

Russia is facing a problem that sanctions, interest rates, and even war spending can’t fix: a shrinking workforce.

In this video, I look at how Russia’s labor market has become dangerously tight, with unemployment near historic lows, wages rising faster than productivity, and employers struggling to find staff. The government is now expanding work permits and looking far beyond its traditional migrant sources in an effort to plug the gap — a clear sign that domestic labor shortages are no longer temporary.

But beneath the surface, the numbers tell a deeper story. Births remain far below deaths, the population has been falling steadily since its peak, and the working-age cohort continues to shrink. Even aggressive pro-natalist policies can’t deliver new workers on the timescale the economy needs.

The result is an economy running up against hard limits: capacity constraints, inflationary pressure, and slower long-term growth. This video explains why Russia’s demographic decline has become an economic problem — and why it’s one that gets harder, not easier, to solve over time.

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:20 PERMITS
3:23 POPULATION PYRAMID
6:43 POPULATION
8:10 BIRTH RATE
8:56 DEATH RATE
9:42 PAST 75 YEARS
10:49 NUMBERS
11:46 SUMMARY & CONCLUSION

[WhiteTara]

1. May they collapse soon.