For the first time in five years, women began to find work faster than men

By mid-2025, for the first time in five years, women began to find work faster than men: on average, it took five months and three days, four days less than men, Izvestia calculated, according to Rosstat.

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The last time women outperformed men in terms of employment was in the pandemic of 2020, when the massive shift to remote work offset the gender preferences of employers. Now the trend has changed for other reasons.

Firstly, there is a shortage of staff: employers who previously avoided hiring women, fearing that they would soon go on maternity leave, are now forced to move away from stereotypes, said Yulia Dolzhenkova, a professor at the Financial University.

Secondly, female employees are more likely to accept a lower salary for the sake of a convenient schedule and the opportunity to combine work with family. Women are also more likely to be employed in low-income industries.

At the same time, there remains a significant gap in salaries, said Viktor Lyashok, senior researcher at the Presidential Academy. According to the latest data, men earned an average of 27% more in 2023. Now the difference could grow even more due to the growing shortage of personnel in areas where men are mainly employed, for example, in the defense industry.

Read more in the Izvestia article:

Gender surprise: for the first time in five years, women began to find work faster than men