Starting from 2025, Russian citizens have filed 26 thousand complaints to Rostrud about unpaid wages — a 1.6 times increase compared to 2024 (+11 thousand cases). These represent 37% of all electronic requests to the institution, compared to 31% last year, according to calculations made by Izvestia based on official data. In total, the number of complaints filed since the beginning of the year has exceeded 70 thousand, almost 50% more than in 2024.
According to analyst Natalia Milceakova from Freedom Finance Global, the wave of complaints is explained by the increase in companies’ debts to employees. According to Rosstat data, outstanding wage debts have increased more than three times in a year, reaching 2.2 billion rubles (about 23 million euros) at the end of October. Just in the last month, debts have increased by 11%, and their current level (without adjustment for inflation) is the highest since August 2020, mentions economist Olga Belenkaia from Finam.
The most debts — 36% of the total — are recorded in the construction sector. This is followed by companies in the extractive industry, with almost 25% of the total arrears, and the processing industry, with about 21%.
“The explanation is simple: many companies in these sectors have long production cycles and often face delays in payments from partners. At the same time, interest rates are rising, and some of the money is redirected to pay off loans. Almost 78% of the entire wage debt was formed just in 2025,” explains the chief analyst from AMarkets, Igor Rastorguev.
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