MOSCOW, July 13. /TASS/. The number of vacancies in some regions across the Russian Arctic zone has grown by a few times over recent year. A certain deficit of human resources remains both in industries and in the social sphere. The potential demand for labor force to 2035 in the Arctic is estimated at 182,400 new jobs. In this material we describe what professions are of highest demand and how well paid could be work on the edge of the world.
Croissant amid the tundra
In 2015, Vitaly Popov left the Lipetsk Region (Central Russia) to move to the Chukotka. The plan was to serve at the border for five years and to return to the mainland after that term.
The plan did not work: he did not get to the border control service, but decided to stay at the Chukotka. Very soon, he got married and opened a business - in the Provideniya settlement, where back in the booming 1950s the population was 7,000. The present population is slightly more than 2,000. Vitaly has grown to be an employer in the catering business.
"Here, we did not have any place for leisure, and first of all I wanted to make something for children," Vitaly said. "At first, we rented room at the local cultural center and worked as a weekend caf·, and two years later we moved to a new hall and arranged everything there the way we wanted."
This caf·, Umka (named after a cartoon character - a polar bear cub), is a center of attraction. The locals come here to have a cup of latte and a crispy croissant. The businessman says, there are certain problems typical for the Arctic, but anyway he continues the business.
We talk with Vitaly on a mobile phone, but the connection "cracks" and the sound delays are about five seconds. This is just a trifle.
"Any goods and supplies, for example, may be brought in only during the navigation - between June and October, the costs are beyond my grasp, thus we have to plan everything well in advance. If there’s something we need, we go to a local shop. I drive there myself on a snowbike. Any deliveries on the Chukotka are very expensive. We try to use all possible incentives offered for businesses - from grants to subsidies. Friends and businesses from the mainland cannot really understand me, but I somehow have got used to living here," he said.
In August, the air temperature is rarely above 11 degrees [Celsius]. At the same time, right from the window you may watch whales and killer whales that live in the bay nearby.
Attractive shifts
Russia’s biggest online recruiter, HeadHunter, in May, 2021, reported a growth of vacancies in the Russian Arctic regions - by 65-141% year-on-year.
Experts forecast this is not the top level. According to results of a survey, conducted by the Ministry for Development of the Far East and Arctic, the Petrozavodsk State University and the Northern (Arctic) Federal University, the potential labor force demand in the Arctic to 2035 is estimated at 182,400 new employees.
"Every year, new companies, which are being organized in the Arctic, will want a few dozen thousand specialists," the ministry said. "About 30% of those are people with university degrees, almost 50% are the mid-level employees, including qualified workers and clerks, and the fifth part - the unqualified force."
Yuri Mikheyev of Zarplata.ru said job offers in the Arctic are of two directions - permanent work and shift work, which is of higher demand nowadays.
"The shift positions’ offers have been growing most rapidly - on our site the growth is by more than four times, and in the Arctic territories the growth is about 85%," he said. "The reason is in labor migrants: many have left for their native cities due to the corona-crisis and found jobs there. Besides, the state stimulates development of the Arctic territories, and thus we expect the growing trend will continue."
The structure of vacancies differs in every region and on whether employers are resource extraction companies. For example, companies in the Murmansk Region invite those who will work on development of the Northern Sea Route: dock machine operators, crushers, sailors, ship's doctors, and the Nenets Region needs deer herders and operators in extraction of oil and gas.
Besides, there are new professions, which are of demand in the Arctic - an UAV operator for exploration, or an electricity engineer at a weather station.
Zarplata.ru confirms salaries in the Arctic may be a few times higher than on the mainland - for the same work. For example, electricity engineers in the Yamalo-Nenets region may earn 90-180 thousand rubles ($1,200-2,400), chemistry engineers - 110-140 thousand rubles (1,500-1,900), surveyors in Chukotka - to 170,000 rubles ($2,300), drivers depending on category - 150,000-170,000 rubles ($2,000-2,300) a month.
"We also have noted a recent trend for ecology specialists in practically all the northern districts - this is not just the global trend or consequences from the fuel spill in Norilsk. The current stage of the Arctic’s development requires more accurate ecology policies. An engineer in ecology nowadays may expect a salary of 60-120 thousand rubles ($818-1,600)," Mikheyev said.
Investments in the Arctic
The Ministry for Development of the Far East and Arctic told TASS more than 129 companies had become residents of the Russian Arctic zone. They implement projects with the total value of more than 244 billion rubles ($3.3 billion), offer more than 6,800 jobs; eight projects with investments of more than 95 billion rubles ($1.3 billion) are registered in the Capital of Arctic advance-development territory, the ministry’s press service said.
About every third vacancy in the Murmansk Region - some 10,000 - are at the companies, which are involved in organization of a new Center for building large-capacity offshore facilities near Belokamenka.
The special facility will be used to build gas liquefaction and handling platforms. This is a key site for Russia’s growing sector to produce equipment for the LNG sphere.
"Experts, working at the Center’s project, say the center will employ up to 15,000 people," the Murmansk Region’s Minister of Labor and Social development Sergei Myakishev told TASS. "Those are highly qualified specialists in port management, construction, engineering and energy infrastructures."
Taimyr’s regional employment authority forecasts the local demand for human resources will make 36,700 specialists to 2027. "The growing demand originates first of all from the big investment projects in the Krasnoyarsk Region - in oil production, construction and upgrade of existing infrastructures, most of which are parts of the Yenisei Siberia complex investment project," the authority said.
Employers also confirm a demand for workers. "Workers are of high deficit. The demand is very high: drivers, repairers, electricians, electric and gas welders, electricians for the repair and maintenance of electrical equipment, drivers for vehicles of all types and carrying equipment, car repair locksmiths, miners," the Norilsk Nickel Company said.
Lack of doctors and teachers
All the experts surveyed by TASS agreed about a big shortage of labor force in the social sphere - teachers and medics. Noteworthy, the shortage of teachers is not new to the Arctic region.
A teacher of physics from a hard-to-reach village Volochanka in the northern part of the Krasnoyarsk Region, Artem Ruban, told TASS he came there four years earlier. He decided to go to the Arctic after he had seen a program about the region on the central TV.
Every day in the North, he said, is similar to the previous day. Plus the problems related to the severe climate and lacking conveniences. However, he enjoys working there. At the same time, the teacher said honestly - in the North he was paid much more than what teachers earn in the region’s other part.
During the pandemic, many regions have experienced a shortage of doctors. "In some Arctic regions, vacancies of doctors in 2020 grew by 70%, and at the same time headhunters stress the number of applicants is not growing," Mikheyev said. The Ministry for Development of the Far East and Arctic quotes similar rates. The local regional authorities confirm this problem.
According to the Murmansk Region’s social authority, the demand for various doctors and nurses is a few times higher than the offer. In order to settle the deficit, local authorities offer certain incentives.
"We are attracting specialists from other regions, "Myakishev said, adding the region also trains own resources. "For example, a coming doctor receives a local bonus of 500,000 rubles ($6,730) and quarterly rent incentives of 15,000 ($202)."
Some Arctic regions offer bigger incentives: the Murmansk Region and Chukotka pay to the so-called Arctic doctors about 2 million rubles ($27,000), the Ministry for the Development of the Far East and Arctic said.
Andrei Alexeyev came to the Far North from a small Crimean resort Feodosiya. Only a couple years ago he lived among the sun, sea and beaches. Now he lives in Murmansk, waiting anxiously for the Northern winter to come when the snow will cover the northern hills.
"Heat can be equally boring. In Crimea, we actually do not have winter, and so I decided to come here to see the true winter," Andrei said. He works as a surgeon in the Murmansk children’s hospital.
"Surgery is the most romantic sphere of medicine, the most understandable discipline. This is a skill you master by using hands, and I enjoy it. It is more interesting to work with children, because there are not standard "adult" cases here: when you treat children, you do the utmost to make sure everything will be fine in future," Andrei said.
In the Far North, the surgeon’s work has been appreciated - Andrei and his family were given a big three-room apartment, he receives a quarterly rent incentive for the first year, and he has been paid a bonus of 500,000 rubles, which he could spend on his choice.
Vorkuta (in the Komi Region) offers special conditions to deficit specialists. "We attract doctors and teachers by whatever possible programs," the Arctic city’s administration said. "First of all, they are given the so-called ‘Northern multiplier’ and do not have to work to it for five years. If an organization applies to us, we rent municipal housing - there is no housing problem in Vorkuta. We have special programs to support graduates."
Yakutia’s authorities from 2021 resumed the program to offer housing to teachers coming to work in villages and Northern districts. According to the officials, about 40 teachers every year will receive this support to improve accommodation conditions.
Additionally, specialists, working permanently in the Far North, may have up to 24 additional days off a year, and the employer will compensate for return tickets to resorts.
The Ministry for Development of the Far East and Arctic reminds to those who want to begin working in the Arctic that employment there may require additional skills. For example, a driver must know how to work on ice-covered roads, must have certain skills to repair a vehicle in complicated weather conditions, including far from settlements and service centers. Doctors and nurses must be skilled in telemedicine, must know diseases typical for the Arctic region.