All news

Russia’s unemployment rate decreases by 2% on Oct 5-19 – ministry

The ministry’s press service said roughly two million people had lost their jobs since the beginning of the economic crisis in October 2008

MOSCOW, October 24 (Itar-Tass) —— The total number of officially registered jobless people in Russia decreased by 2.1 percent over two week from October 5 to October 19, the press service of the Russian Ministry of Health and Social Development said in the ministry’s regular report on Monday.

“In the period from October 5 to October 19, 2011, the total number of officially registered unemployed persons in Russia dropped by 2.1 percent [or 26,391] to amount to 1.229,226 people as of October 19,” the ministry’s report said.

In the period under review, 71 Russian regions reported a decline in the officially registered unemployment rate, the press service said, adding that the Jewish Autonomous Area, as well as the Bryansk, Kirov and Voronezh regions were among such territories.

At the same time, the increase of the officially registered unemployment rate was reported from ten Russian regions, including the Kamchatka Territory, the Republic of North Ossetia – Alania, as well as the Yamal-Nenets and Chukchi autonomous areas, the press service said.

The ministry’s press service said roughly two million people had lost their jobs since the beginning of the economic crisis in October 2008. Of the total, 617,000 people have rejoined the workforce, including 217,200 through the state employment services.

In addition, the number of employees, who are temporarily out of work, work part-time or have to go on forced vacations, was at about 198,100 people, the press service said.

The unemployment rate is calculated as the ratio of the total number of jobless people to the total number of able-bodied population.

The ministry’s monitoring is based on official information about dismissals, received from more than 67,500 Russian organizations and companies in all regions of the country.

Proceeding from earlier reports of the Federal State Statistics Service, the total number of unemployed people in Russia counted by standards of the International Labour Organization (ILO) decreased by 126,000 persons in September 2011, as compared to the previous month, and amounted to 4.6 million, which totalled six percent of Russia’s able-bodied citizens.

In August 2011, the total unemployment rate made up 4.762 million people (6.1 percent of the able-bodied population), the statistics reaffirmed.

In addition, the total number of Russia’s officially registered jobless people is estimated at 1.3 million, of whom one million received unemployment allowances.

According to preliminary estimates, the total number of Russia’s able-bodies population amounted to 76.6 million, or more than 54 percent of the country’s overall population, the statistics service said in its earlier reports.