Head of the Russian Federal Labor and Employment Service Maxim Topilin
Photo: Yury Martyanov
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Unemployment Couldn't Be Lower, and Won't
Registered unemployment in Russia dropped 10 percent this year to 1.5 million people, announced Maxim Topilin, head of the Federal Labor and Employment Service (Rostrud), yesterday. Rostrud acknowledges that that pace will not continue in 2008. The level of unemployment in Russia – 2 percent according to Rostrud, 6 percent by the calculation method of the International Labor Organization – is the practical limit.
Topilin credits “activization of economic processes” that created new job for the situation, saying that the number of vacant positions has grown from 1 million to 1.5 million this year. He named the restoration of benefits of mothers with small children as another reason for the reduction in the unemployed. About 100,000 people, 5-10 percent of the women seeking employment, were doing so out of need for benefits without an desire to work. Unemployment benefits in Russia range from 720-770 to 2880-3080 rubles per month, as of December 1.
Economists say that some unemployment will remain, at around 1.3-1.4 million people, even as the economy grows at a rate of 7-8 percent per year because the new demand is for qualified workers, who may be in a shortage while workers without qualifications do not fund places. Lack of mobility and stability also play a role. According to the Rosstat method of calculation, the unemployment rate is Dagestan is 4.4 percent, in North Ossetia 6.2 percent, in Kabardino-Balkaria 9.4 percent, in Ingushetia 30.9 percent and in Chechnya 62.7 percent.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 06, 2007
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