Predicting Labor Market Demand: Russia Launches “Pythia” Career Forecasting Service
A new predictive analytics platform is live in Russia, merging EdTech with HRTech. Called “Pythia,” the service was developed by HSE University with support from Rostrud. It gives students and applicants a competitive edge by forecasting career prospects, helping them choose the right academic path, and aligning skills with future labor market demand.
Investing in the Right Profession
The new information and analytics platform was designed to estimate career prospects and salary potential for bachelor’s, specialist, and master’s graduates, while also guiding applicants toward suitable study paths. Powered by artificial intelligence the assistant evaluates education level, results of Russia’s Unified State Exam (EGE), extra achievements, and preferred field of study. Importantly, it factors in the region and funding type — whether tuition-free or paid enrollment.
Based on a student’s inputs and national employment data, the AI generates a list of suitable universities and programs. It also highlights fields where graduates are likely to find the most lucrative opportunities after graduation.
AI Assistant Analyzes Salaries and Employers
Salary forecasts and employment prospects are calculated with a high degree of accuracy using unique Rostrud data on graduate employment. The system includes records for all Russian university graduates, with predictions built using machine learning methods such as gradient boosting and decision trees. Calculations were performed on HSE’s high-performance cHARISMa cluster.
The solution also relies on natural language processing (NLP) models. Applicants who are undecided about their career paths can describe their interests in free text, the AI will analyze and suggest tailored options. The database is constantly updated, ensuring up-to-date results. The service also compiles lists of leading employers offering the most attractive positions to graduates of specific programs.
Open Access, Broad Impact
This IT product gives applicants and students a clearer understanding of their educational and career prospects, while also helping universities track the relevance of their programs. Employers benefit too. The system enables workforce planning in a period of demographic decline, when young talent is an especially scarce and valuable resource. Retention will be critical — and Pythia offers a new tool for aligning workforce planning with labor supply.
How Pythia Could Reshape Russia’s Job Market
The service is free to access. It also integrates with Russia’s “Navigator of Professions and Skills,” which highlights in-demand competencies and suggests areas where users should “level up.” Pythia is available through the national “Work in Russia” portal.
The platform promises to synchronize workforce training with real market demand, positioning it as an innovative tool for managing both educational quality and workforce policy. Integration with Russia’s labor market ecosystem will expand in the future, broadening audience reach and improving forecast accuracy.
