[10] In the late 2000s, Baykalsk faced a series of well-documented economic crises stemming from its status as a monotown entirely dependent on the declining and then closed paper mill.

The plant was closed in 2009 after new expensive waste water treatment equipment made the factory unprofitable after the global economic downturn.

In January 2010, following disturbances, the Russian government with the cooperation of its private owner reopened the factory and exempted it from pollution rules but lowered the workers' wages.

[13] In September 2013, the mill underwent a final bankruptcy, with the last eight hundred workers slated to lose their jobs by December 28, 2013.

The residential parts mostly consist of three- and five-story apartment blocks due to high risk of an earthquake in the town.