Moscow and St. Petersburg lead the ranking of regions by labor market for 2025

Moscow and St. Petersburg hold the lead in the ranking of Russian regions in terms of the situation on the labor market at the end of 2025.

The lower positions are occupied by Ingushetia, Dagestan, Tuva, Chechnya, North Ossetia and Karachay-Cherkessia.

The largest increase in the rating score at the end of 2025 occurred in Kabardino-Balkaria (+7.76 points), Chechnya (+6.13 points) and Karachay-Cherkessia (+4.92 points).

The value of the rating score decreased in ten regions, the most significant drop was in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug (-1.77 points), Kemerovo Region (-1.53 ​​points) and Krasnoyarsk Territory (-1.03 points).

MOSCOW, September 7 – RIA Novosti. Moscow and St. Petersburg hold the lead in the ranking of Russian regions in terms of the situation on the labor market at the end of 2025, Ingushetia and Dagestan close the list, according to a RIA Novosti study.

Labor market situation

As experts note, trends in the Russian labor market as a whole continue, characterized by a shortage of personnel, high competition for jobs, continued growth in wages and low unemployment. At the same time, general trends are determined by the heterogeneous situation emerging in the labor markets of individual regions.

To assess the labor market in the constituent entities of the Federation, RIA Novosti analysts conducted a study and prepared a rating of regions by labor market based on the results of 2025. When calculating the rating, eight indicators were analyzed that characterize the situation in the area under study, which include the level of wages, employment, working conditions, and the capacity of the labor market. Based on the aggregation of indicator values, a rating score was calculated, according to which the regions were ranked. The higher the rating score, the more favorable the situation on the labor market of a particular region. The possible range of rating points is from 100 - the maximum possible value, to 1 - the minimum possible value.

The study results indicate that the labor market situation for workers in the country as a whole has improved slightly in 2025. The value of the average rating score increased by 1.42 points compared to 2024, and the range of changes was 6.69 - 97.57 on a scale from 1 to 100.

The leaders are the same

Compared to last year's results, the leading regions largely maintained their positions. The first four places remained unchanged. The leaders are still Moscow and St. Petersburg, whose rating points were 97.57 and 93.26, respectively.

The Moscow region retained third place with 91.59 points. Tatarstan remained in fourth place (85.71 points), while the Leningrad Region (81.08 points) rose to fifth position. In general, there were two changes in the composition of the top ten - the Nizhny Novgorod and Tyumen regions entered it, and Bashkortostan and the Krasnoyarsk Territory left.

As analysts note, the leading regions of the rating are characterized by a high level of socio-economic development, with high salaries, low unemployment, and a large labor market capacity.

Regions are outsiders

The lower positions of the ranking are occupied by Ingushetia, Dagestan, Tuva, Chechnya, North Ossetia and Karachay-Cherkessia. In all these regions, the rating score was less than 40. Compared to the results of 2024, the number of such entities decreased by three. The key problems of these regions in the labor market are low wages and high unemployment.

Improving the situation

At the end of 2025, the largest increase in the rating score occurred in Kabardino-Balkaria (+7.76 points), Chechnya (+6.13 points) and Karachay-Cherkessia (+4.92 points). In total, an increase in the value of the rating score occurred in 75 regions.

As experts explain, in Kabardino-Balkaria the increase in the rating score occurred due to a reduction in the coefficient of tension in the labor market and a decrease in unemployment. The increase in the rating score in Chechnya was mainly due to a decrease in unemployment.

In Karachay-Cherkessia, the coefficient of tension in the labor market has decreased, the share of unemployed people looking for work for more than three months in the total workforce has decreased, and the share of people employed in hazardous industries has also decreased.

The rating score decreased in ten regions. The most significant drop was in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug (-1.77 points), Kemerovo Region (-1.53 ​​points) and Krasnoyarsk Territory (-1.03 points). In other regions the reduction was less than 1 point.

In the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, industrial injuries have increased and diversification in the labor market has decreased.

In the Kemerovo region, the decrease in the rating score was most significantly influenced by the reduction in the ratio of the average monthly accrued wages to the cost of a fixed set of consumer goods and services, and the increase in the tension coefficient in the labor market.

The decrease in the rating score in the Krasnoyarsk Territory was caused by an increase in the share of people employed in hazardous industries and a decrease in the capacity of the labor market.

The leaders in growth of positions in the ranking were Crimea (growth by 11 places), Voronezh (growth by 6 places) and Nizhny Novgorod regions (growth by 6 places). The Kemerovo, Novgorod and Vologda regions dropped most significantly in the ranking. Each of these regions moved up six places.

This year, unemployment remains at an extremely low level, while wages continue to rise. Thus, by the end of 2026, we can expect that in most regions the situation on the labor market will not fundamentally change, analysts say.

How was the rating calculated?

The methodology for calculating the ranking of regions by labor market is based on the aggregation of indicators that allow a comprehensive assessment of the state of this area in the region. The analyzed indicators characterize the level of wages, employment, working conditions, as well as the capacity of the labor market. The value of the rating score can vary in the range from 1 to the maximum value of 100. A region can receive the maximum possible value only if its values ​​of all analyzed indicators are better than or equal to the upper (best) threshold values. The minimum possible value will be for a subject whose values ​​of all analyzed indicators are worse than or equal to the lower (worst) threshold values.

The source of information for the analysis is Rosstat data. Eight indicators combined into four groups were used to calculate the rating. To assess the level of remuneration, the ratio of the average monthly accrued wages to the cost of a fixed set of consumer goods and services was analyzed.

The "Employment" group includes the following indicators: the unemployment rate, the labor market tension coefficient (the ratio of the average annual number of unemployed to the average annual number of vacancies), the share of the unemployed who have been looking for work for more than three months in the total labor force.

The group “Working conditions” includes indicators: the share of people employed in jobs with harmful and (or) dangerous working conditions, the number of victims at work with loss of ability to work for 1 working day or more and with death per 1000 workers.

The group “Labor Market Capacity” includes the following indicators: the total number of people employed in the economy and the required workers for vacant positions, as well as the level of diversification of the labor market, which is calculated based on data on the average number of workers by economic sector. Regions with a high level of diversification were considered to be those in which the dominance of a limited number of industries is not evident.