MOSCOW, February 7 (Itar-Tass) —— Unemployment rate in Russia in January 2012 was 6.3 percent among the employable population, Russian Minister of Health and Social Development Tatiana Golikova said on Tuesday.
“In Russia we have achieved the unemployment rate 1.5 times lower than at the most critical point of the economic recession in December 2008 - January 2009,” Golikova said at a meeting of the APEC human resources development working group. “In January 2012, unemployment was 6.3 percent among the economically active population.”
Since “social liabilities of the state are a top priority regardless of what is happening during a given economic period,” she said, living standards of Russians have not deteriorated due to the global financial crisis, and the state has fulfilled all its social liabilities. “Since the time when Russia joined the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, the number of Russians below the living wage reduced by 2.3 times and the employment rate grew from 53 to 63 percent,” she noted.
According to the Russian minister, thanks to governmental measures aimed to improve the demographical situation in the country the number of births has gone up by 21.2 percent, while the mortality rate decreased by 14.6 percent. Average life expectancy in Russia increased by 3.7 years.
“Russia will continue its efforts to create the necessary conditions to protect the rights of each of its citizen and to offer support to socially vulnerable categories,” she summed up.