According to official data, modern Russia has the lowest unemployment rate. However, there is still a huge contingent of hidden unemployment, many times higher than the official level. This situation is paradoxically combined with an acute and continuously growing shortage of qualified production personnel. Using a lot of factual material, the author reveals the causes of this phenomenon. The main one is the depopulation of the indigenous population, which is being replaced by people of other ethnic groups with the lowest qualification level. At the same time, due to the destruction (“optimization”) of the education system, the intellectual and qualification level of the indigenous population is continuously decreasing. The other is the various types and waves of growing emigration of “brains” and “golden hands.” As a result, for more than thirty years, the contingent of old engineering and technical personnel has exhausted itself, while new ones have not been trained in the required volume and quality. A huge personnel “hole” has formed. The author proposes to close this “hole” on the basis of a radical reorientation of the entire Russian education system, starting with kindergarten, school, etc. It is also necessary to reformat the public consciousness accordingly, especially the mass consciousness of young people.