According to a new workforce forecast model for offshore Arctic deposit development, the average demand for specialists across various fields and skill levels ranges from 20,000 to 25,000 positions. Concurrently, the Arctic faces not only a labor shortage but also competition among industries for such personnel.

In an interview with RIA Novosti, Professor Alexei Fadeyev of the  St Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) Higher School of Production Management noted that the Arctic requires highly qualified specialists to achieve workforce sovereignty and ensure efficient resource management.

“Preliminary calculations for certain Arctic hydrocarbon projects indicate that revenue from the non-resource sector – generated by the involvement of industrial enterprises in project implementation – could double the direct income from oil or gas sales from a given field,” he added.

The expert highlighted that there are currently over 100 investment projects in the Arctic Zone, with a total investment value exceeding 35 trillion rubles. Fadeyev believes that with the implementation of a unified preferential regime in the Arctic and the Far East by 2027, the region could become the world’s largest economic zone.