In Russia, specialists over 45 years of age make up about 42.5% of the working population, but only 17% of applicants in this age group are represented on the market; the average age of a Russian in 2025 is 44 years old.
One of the largest players, Sberbank, has only 11% of employees over 50 years of age, and the share of hiring such candidates is only 2%.
In other words: business is deliberately denying itself in a huge number of experienced experts. Although, at the beginning of the year, a trend arose to hire older candidates in Russia. Everyone knows how tight it is now with personnel for our mining and metallurgy industry (especially in distant regions). At the same time, according to internal reports and statistics of large enterprises (for example, Mechel, Norilsk Nickel, Severstal, Metalloinvest), the share of employees over 45 years of age fluctuates in the range of 30-40%, which is above the global average.
And now let’s look at what in the West
In international companies such as ArcelorMittal, Rio Tinto, Vale, the share of employees is over 45 years of age traditionally is about 25-30%. The share of 50 employees in Siemens is about 25%, in Shell - 22%, and in the Volkswagen Group - 27%. In fact, this reflects the real age structure of society - nothing supernatural, just normal practice.
Why does this happen in Russia?
Mature candidates, having rich professional knowledge, are more likely to ask informed questions, have their own position and are less inclined to blindly obey ineffective decisions. This can cause discomfort for management, who prefer control over initiative (“you don’t need smart people, but you need executives”).
Well, in addition, all this is covered up by false economy: “they say, let’s hire a young person for less money.” But how much does each wrong decision of such an employee cost? For some reason, no one considers the Paradox of reality and facts.
