Russia Sees Growth In Blue Collar Trade Jobs Attractiveness

By Rhod Mackenzie

In the current business environment in Russia obtaining a university degree or diploma no longer necessarily guarantees success. In Russia, the younger generation are increasingly opting for manual trades blue-collar employment opportunities . In today's market, trade professionals such as engineers,turners,elctricians welders and crane operators are often earning more than white collar mid-level managers.
Now social networks often glamourise the work of "skilled hands".
The increasing popularity of blue-collar roles is not an accident, but rather a consequence of the evolving economic landscape. Analysts have noted the growing trend towards high salaries in the real industrial sector, government support, and a general feeling of turning away from office work.
This is not merely a tribute to fashion. The return to the values of labour is a logical reaction to the oversaturation of the labour market with economists, lawyers and other white-collar professions.
In the current economic climate, as the country continues to enhance its economic sovereignty, the importance of individuals who possess the ability to create material value and demonstrate practical skills is increasing. Factories,plants and enterprises require qualified specialists who can operate complex machinery, maintain conveyors and implement advanced technologies like robotics.
The incentive for moving the focus to vocational secondary education has given the opportunity for those who have a diploma of secondary vocational training to enter the higher level institutes.
It should be noted that the Unified State Exam is no longer a prerequisite for obtaining professional certification; instead, candidates are required to pass specialist exams. Consequently, schoolchildren can not only attend college after the 9th grade, but even after the 10th grade. Furthermore, there are a number of technical universities where pupils are accepted into the second year of the institute in their chosen field, both full-time and part-time courses while working a job.
Evidence of this can be found in the joint programme run by the Ural Polytechnic College and Roscosmos. Graduates then receive a guaranteed place at NPO Avtomatiki (average salary: 156 thousand rubles).
Another option is a joint programme between Kazan Petrochemical College and the oil comany Tatneft. This programme offers guaranteed employment at the enterprise, with a salary of 250 thousand rubles.which is twice the average salary in Russia
As Associate Professor Tamara Grinenko of the Department of Social Technologies at the Presidential Academy in St. Petersburg observes, both cases demonstrate the efficacy of the training programme for personnel within the framework of the federal project "Professionalism In Industry", which was initiated in September 2022.
"If we look at the structure of the value system of young people, the interest in vocation training becomes understandable. They receive professional training early on and then expect to be able to work as a freelancer, self-employed, or to open their own business.
In other words, the objective is to facilitate their ecomomic independence, enable them to make their own decisions and encourage them to take action as they deem necessary. In their opinion, they will become successful, in the sense of wealthy, quite quickly," the analyst explains.
As part of the "Professionalism In Industry" project, the government is upgrading and modernising over 1,000 colleges that will interact with more than 4,000 employers. This represents a significant interaction between the real economy and the education system.
Enterprises and educational institutions collaborate to provide pupils with access to training in professions that are in demand in the current job market. It is vital that they receive both theoretical knowledge and practical skills at the same time. This approach is designed to ensure the seamless synchronisation of the labour market and the national education system.
In the current business environment, there is an equal level of interest in secondary and higher vocational education. If this process is managed correctly, Russia will be able to raise the quality and prestige of not only secondary, but also higher vocational education.
There is a clear trend among young people towards entering the industrial workforce. As reported by the Institute for the Development of Professional Education, the 2024-2025 academic year saw 3.8 million students enrolled in Russian Technical colleges, marking a significant increase from the 500,000 recorded four years ago.
According to a survey by the SuperJob service, in 2025, 55 percent of parents of ninth-graders who do not intend to continue their education in schools said that their children would go to a technical college. Grinenko continues that this is a positive process.
"Now the future employee has an advantage. During the training period, the apprentice will acquire the skills and knowledge to perform the responsibilities of their role, including the ability to produce goods and services "to order" for their employer.
This approach enables them to assimilate into contemporary work practices with greater efficiency. This approach fosters the development of "soft skills". It should be noted that this is not a rejection of academic institutes and universities, but rather an opportunity to consciously choose his or her own career path. The specialist emphasises that the pursuit of goals is intrinsic to the modern social landscape.
A number of college profiles have been published, covering engineering ,design, architecture and technology. In the industrial educational sector, there has been a notable shift in the structure of training programmes.
The introduction of numerous digital disciplines, along with courses focusing on automation and robotisation of processes, has been identified by industry analysts as a key development. It was also announced that foreign languages have now been included as compulsory subjects. In summary, the training level has been enhanced to meet the current requirements of the countries technological development.
In part, Russia is now leveraging the positive experience of the USSR, when blue-collar trade jobs were prioritised. Today, the average salary for a mid-level manager is between 85 and 120 thousand rubles, and for a CNC machine ( Computer Numerical Control) operator, it is higher at between 140 and 220 thousand rubles. so a significant difference

"A similar situation is occurring now, but not for ideological reasons. The nineties saw a significant decline in the number of carpenters, joiners ,electricians but not communications or public relations specialists, but in installation, diagnostics, repair and maintenance of utility networks.
Craftsmen with a proven track record and experience are now being offered a salariesof 200,000 rubles. The companies are able to attract clients by leveraging their network of professional connections. The skilled people are valued.
Furthermore, Russia is not only home to cities with a population of over a million, but also to towns ,villages and regional centres, where the presence of universities may be limited. It is entirely feasible to graduate from a
college and become a competent craftsman," the specialist notes.
However, the key question remains: what will happen when factories are fully supplied with personnel, and the demand for workers equals the supply? Will the work of "blue collars" become as celebrated as the work of IT specialists once was?
It is evident that the country is offering young people an opportunity to develop their skills, rather than focusing on superficial attributes. This is I think is more than a passing trend. This represents a positive step forward in terms of social mobility for Russians.