The Blubber

Per Newsweek

Russia's economy has also been affected by its war in Ukraine; now, the country is experiencing a 25-year record labor shortage. This meant that the country had not experienced this much labor shortage since the late 1990s.

This came after a survey was conducted by the central bank of Russia, which looked at 14,000 employees coming from non-financial sectors. The study found that since 1998, Russia is now experiencing the lowest level of available employees.

These were some of the sectors highlighted to have had the smallest labor shortage.

• Car sales
• Wholesale trade
• Service sector

These were some of the sectors highlighted to have had the highest labor shortage.

• Manufacturing
• Industrial enterprises
• Water supply
• Mining
• Transportation
• Storage

Macro Advisory Ltd. CEO Chris Weafer gave a statement to Newsweek regarding the situation.

Weafer: "You could say that this labor shortage and skill set shortage is going to be as damaging for Russia's future economic growth prospects as the sanctions ban on technology,"

The report also highlighted an earlier law signed by Putin in 2018 that aimed to raise the retirement age for men and women. The previously signed law raised the retirement age for men to 65 from its previous 60 and women to 60 from its previous 55.

It was recently reported that China and India played a huge role in bringing Russia's crude oil shipments back to pre-war levels. The two countries were reportedly responsible for 90% of Russia's seaborne exports of crude oil.

Both countries were reportedly buying 1.5 million barrels daily from Russia.

In March, it was also reported that Japan bought Russian oil above the $60-a-barrel cap, which would break it with US allies. The country agreed to the exception, saying that it had to get access to Russian energy.

Japan remained the only Group of Seven nation that didn't supply Ukraine with any lethal weapons.

See flow at unusualwhales.com/flow.

Other News:

• China and India helped bring Russia's crude oil shipments to return to pre-war levels
• Japan has bought Russian oil above $60-a-barrel cap, breaking with US allies

Resources:

Newsweek