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- What is being done now: salaries for construction workers have begun to fall in Russia
What is being done now: salaries for construction workers have begun to fall in Russia
Construction was the first to feel the cooling of the labor market. After several years of rapid growth in salary offers, companies began to reduce salaries for new employees, according to the study "Jobs.<url>" and "SberPodbora" (Izvestia has it). Against the background of a high key interest rate, declining demand for housing and an increase in the debt burden to almost 500%, the industry has stopped participating in the previous race for personnel — and this signal may spread to other capital-intensive areas. Is it possible to talk about the end of the salary growth period and how the labor market is changing today — in the Izvestia article.
What salaries are offered in Russia in 2026
After several years of salary race, the labor market began to cool down. Some industries can still raise the stakes in the fight for people, but in many areas, employers' salary offers have almost frozen, and in construction and real estate they have even gone down. We are talking about the amounts that companies are willing to promise candidates when hiring.
According to the results of the first half of 2026, salary offers increased the fastest in the category of vacancies for students and interns, according to the data from the services "Work.<url>" and "SberPodbor". At the start, they are now promising an average of more than 111 thousand rubles per month, which has increased by more than a third over the year. The top three also included IT with offers of about 87,000 (+33%) and finance with insurance — almost 82,000 (+22%).
But in other segments, the dynamics has almost stopped. In the field of beauty and health, employers offer about 79 thousand, which is only 0.8% more than a year earlier, recruiters estimated. The minimum increase was also recorded in culture, education and civil service — plus 1.7%.
The main turning point occurred in construction and real estate. This is the only area where salary offers have decreased — by 0.8%, to a level below 97 thousand, the study says. Izvestia sent a request to the Ministry of Labor.
Construction companies are no longer ready to participate in the aggressive staff competition that has been going on in recent years, explained Roman Yerkhov, CEO of TuBi recruitment company. According to him, in the past, staff shortages forced employers to constantly raise rates, but now maintaining the profitability of projects is coming to the fore.
The change of leaders shows well how the market has changed. A year earlier, according to the services, the fastest growing offers were in the service sector (+20%), finance and insurance (+14%), as well as in culture, education and civil service (+14%). Now, growth is concentrated in individual niches, while some industries have already reached the ceiling on personnel costs.
Why did salary offers in construction start to decline?
At the same time, official statistics so far show an increase in salaries already accrued at the construction site. According to the latest data from Rosstat, in April 2026, the average salary of employees in this field was 111 thousand rubles, almost 10% more than a year earlier. However, the recruiters' data reflects another, earlier signal: in the first half of 2026, the growth rate of salary offers in construction and real estate began to decline.
The construction sector is now more dependent on the cost of borrowed money than many other industries, said Roman Yerkhov from TuBa. According to him, the high key rate, which has decreased by only 1.75 percentage points to 14.25% since the beginning of the year, has hit several areas at once.
First, expensive loans have made mortgages less affordable and dampened demand for housing, Yerkhov explained. Secondly, project financing has become more expensive, so developers are more cautious about launching new facilities, and in some cases they are suspending projects that have already begun. In addition, the cost of working capital has increased, which is why companies are more tightly controlling costs, including labor costs, the expert said.
The pressure on business is also evident in the debt burden. According to the CMACP (Izvestia has studied them), companies are already allocating 37% of their profits to paying interest on loans, which is the maximum figure. The highest debt burden is in the mechanical engineering, woodworking and commercial services sectors. The construction industry is also among the leaders: net liabilities of companies in the sector reached 481% of EBITDA earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation. In other words, their net debt is almost five times their annual operating profit.
The high workload affected not only salary offers, but also the volume of construction work. According to Rosstat, in May it decreased by 4.4%, to 1.4 trillion rubles, and in January – May — by 7.4%, to 5.7 trillion. Against this background, developers and contractors are more cautious about opening new vacancies and are no longer ready to raise salary offers so quickly, said Freedom Global analyst Vladimir Chernov.
What will happen to the labor market in 2026
The decline in salary offers in construction should not yet be considered a full-fledged reversal in the market, experts interviewed by Izvestia believe. Rather, this is the first industry signal: the economy is gradually emerging from a severe personnel shortage and moving towards more careful cost management.
If high rates persist for a long time, a similar cooling may affect other capital-intensive industries. The risk zone includes areas adjacent to the construction site: production of building materials, transportation and repair services. In addition, industry, development, some manufacturing enterprises and individual segments of commercial real estate may feel the pressure, Albina Khamitova, head of Eco Start, admitted.
The expectations of the authorities have also become more restrained. The Ministry of Energy forecasts an increase in real salaries of company employees by only 2.2% in 2026. For comparison, in 2025, the figure was twice as high — 4.4%.
Now the labor market is gradually leveling off, but it's too early to talk about a full transition of the initiative to employers, says Yulia Kuznetsova, head of the Laboratory of Meanings. According to her, the shortage of personnel, especially workers and engineers, remains. Its causes are structural and demographic in nature, so the problem will not disappear in the coming months.
At the same time, the cooling is already noticeable in certain segments, primarily among office workers, middle managers, marketers and in some IT areas, Yulia Kuznetsova noted. The number of active resumes is growing, and the number of vacancies is decreasing, so employers are becoming more selective and have more opportunities to select candidates.
Albina Khamitova believes that the peak of rapid wage growth has already been passed. According to her, the economy is moving to a more balanced model: companies are expanding their staff more cautiously, assessing development prospects more carefully, and are less willing to raise salaries at a faster pace.
Another factor is automation and the introduction of artificial intelligence, Roman Yerkhov said. According to him, businesses are increasingly investing not only in people, but also in technologies that allow them to perform some tasks with fewer employees. This does not mean massive layoffs, but it reduces the need for constant staff expansion. Therefore, instead of an annual increase in payments by 15%, employers are more likely to focus on inflation and productivity, the expert admitted. At the same time, the shortage of personnel in key areas will not disappear quickly.
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