Russia is benefiting from the global downturn, a recruiter has claimed.

Tremayne Elson, managing director at executive search firm Antal Russia, said that demand far outstrips supply in Russia and as Western firms cut back domestic companies are able to cherry pick the best talent.

Elson said: “We’re receiving applications from large numbers of very experienced staff, who have been made redundant from Western companies and have little problem placing them with Russian firms.

“We’d got to the situation where relatively average people could literally double their salary overnight by changing jobs and where many younger, ‘Generation Y’ workers had become very complacent about their careers. One could argue that bringing this type of competition back into the workplace is long overdue. People will simply have to work harder and more cheaply. And given the overheating the labour market in Russia had been experiencing up until now, that’s not a bad thing.”