Mass layoffs at AvtoVAZ are an inevitable stage in the restructuring of the enterprise, and not a sign of crisis. Experts in the industry explained why the reductions may even help the company adapt to the new conditions, and the released specialists will not be left without work.
Reasons for the crisis and reductions
Experts call the increase in the utilization fee, which AvtoVAZ itself previously supported, the main reason for the current problems of the auto concern. The increase in the utilization fee led to an increase in the price of cars, which caused a drop in demand and forced the company to switch to a four-day work week. The decrease in income provoked voluntary resignations among employees.
Since the beginning of October, the plant has switched to a reduced schedule, but the labor market was ready to accept specialists. Former employees quickly find work in the service sector — taxi, delivery, trade, as well as at defense enterprises, where industrial personnel are in demand.
A matter of time
Well-known auto expert and champion race car driver Andrey Sevastyanov believes that the reductions at AvtoVAZ were only a matter of time. According to him, the plant has not been producing products that meet world standards for a long time, and government support only preserves systemic problems.
Everyone understands perfectly well that either the price of the manufactured products for the consumer should be half as low, or the quality and technologies for the money that Lada cars cost today should be in accordance with world standards of today.
Sevastyanov noted that the state has been supporting the enterprise for decades, justifying this by the fight against unemployment and the need to preserve national auto production. The concern regularly receives assistance in the form of high import duties and a utilization fee.
What can we talk about at all, if car sharing companies, taxi companies and athletes in their home country do not want to use this equipment! If they were in market conditions and without government support, the plant would have closed down more than 20 years ago.
How will it affect the labor market
Sevastyanov is convinced that mass layoffs will not lead to social upheavals. The freed-up time can be used to improve skills, and if necessary, find work in related industries.
I am sure that assembly line workers can easily assemble furniture or unmanned aerial vehicles, this is essentially a very similar job, and such specialists are currently in high demand.
Superjob founder Alexey Zakharov agrees with him. He emphasized that reductions and the transition to a four-day week are common practice for large enterprises and do not indicate a crisis.
Everyone is used to this, they know how to live and work with it. And the employees themselves are used to the fact that this happens. Therefore, it cannot be said that there is some kind of force majeure at AvtoVAZ.
According to his assessment, even mass layoffs will not affect the labor market — unemployment in Russia remains minimal, and employers are already facing a shortage of personnel.
There will be fewer and fewer people in the economy. Accordingly, unemployment will not grow. Employers will have to pay more and more for less and less labor productivity, Zakharov concluded.