Russian companies have started freezing the salaries of IT specialists. 42% of programmers have faced a refusal from their employers to increase their pay in 2025. This was revealed in a survey by the communication agency iTrend and the Center for the Analysis of Global Trends (CAGT), the results of which are cited by “Russian Gazette”.
Against this backdrop, the median salary in the IT industry last year practically stopped growing and amounted to 183 thousand rubles at the beginning of 2026, according to a study by “Habré Career”. At the same time, in annual terms, programmers’ salaries have risen below inflation, which, according to Rosstat data, reached 5.6% in 2025. For example, in Moscow, the figure increased by only 4%, and in Nizhny Novgorod — by 1%. As a result, price increases have started to “erode” the salaries of IT specialists.
What is happening in the industry is directly related to the economic situation in the country, says Kirill Semion, the general director of the ANO “National Competence Center for Management Information Systems Holding”. “Budgets are being cut. There are fewer new projects. The overheating of the market in recent years is having its impact,” he noted (The Moscow Times).
