Murmansk faces lack of manpower
Big regional investment projects like the Shtokman project could leave a number of public sectors in Murmansk Oblast without qualified manpower. Meanwhile, industrial enterprises in neighbouring Norway step up their bids for Russian workers.
Murmansk might in the near future become depend on the influx of guest workers. The far northern city, the upcoming hub for Russian Arctic oil industry, might experience some of the same problems as Moscow – a severe lack of qualified manpower. Official unemployment in the region is from before less than four percent.
Regional authorities in Murmansk now take on the problem of manpower. In a press conference last week, head of the regional professional education department said that project like the Shtokman project, as well as the National Project on Housing Construction, could drain the region of qualified manpower.
Mr. Vyacheslav Malkov now proposes a number of measures on how to tackle the situation, among them an extensive educational and recruitment programme for the construction sector, B-port.com reports.
Meanwhile, the qualified manpower of Murmansk is also a field of interest for several companies in neighbouring Norway. Among them is the Northern Iron company, which eyes the employment of Russian specialists to its iron ore project outside Kirkenes, close to the Russian border.
Illustration: Barentsphoto.com
