OREANDA-NEWS  The delivery industry is growing rapidly in Russia — there are more couriers in the country, and there is also an increase in the number of vacancies in this area. If 830 thousand people worked in deliveries in 2021, then in 2023 — more than one million. This is reported by Vedomosti with reference to research data from the Russian Association of Electronic Communications (RAEC). The authors of the study reported that every sixth Russian has experience working as a courier.

The number of couriers exceeded one million in all types of delivery, including cargo transportation services and delivery to pick-up points, said Maria Saikina, Chief Analyst at RAEC. According to data for the second quarter of 2023, about 1.2 million people were employed in this area, said Mikhail Burmistrov, CEO of Infoline Analytics. It is not known exactly how many couriers there are in Russia, because for many Russians delivery is a side job, not the main activity. According to the RAEC, 38 percent of couriers combine work with study, 16 percent — with other work.

The growth in demand for couriers began in 2020 against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic. In 2022, the number of delivery jobs in Russia increased by 113 percent compared to 2021 and amounted to 300 thousand. From January to May 2023, the number of vacancies for couriers was 33 percent higher than in the same period last year.