There are around 9 million Muscovites able to work. 1.73 million are employed by the state, 4.42 million are employed by private companies, and 1.99 million are employed by small businesses. There are 74,400 officially registered unemployed working age, of which 34,400 are eligible for unemployment benefits.

Unemployment in Russia is at 8.1 % of the Russian workforce, or 7.7% of the economically active population. Moscow has historically had one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, sometimes hovering around 1%. However, the current economic downturn has affected the city and Moscow has been similarly affected. This has been paired with a steadily rising inflation rate, causing many Muscovites to struggle financially.

The homeless received no official recognition in the Soviet era. Even in 1995, Moscow authorities estimated that city's homeless population at 30,000, but Western experts put the figure as high as 300,000. A number of humanitarian organizations, such as the Salvation Army and Doctors Without Borders, have been of assistance. The many deaths of homeless people prompted the Moscow government to announce plans to build ten new shelters and to ease the procedure for obtaining residency permits.