Unemployment at 6.9%, back at pre-crisis mark - Medvedev
MOSCOW. Feb 4 (Interfax) - Unemployment has shrunk to the pre-crisis mark in Russia, President Dmitry Medvedev has said.
"Overall, the situation looks better than last year, according to objective figures. Unemployment has gone down significantly to the mark close to the pres-crisis period," Medvedev told a conference on the market of workforce at an employment center in northwestern Moscow.
"But these are mere figures, behind which stand concrete people losing their jobs," he said.
The situation on the workforce market is "sufficiently stable" in Moscow, with the percentage of registered unemployed at 0.7%, the president said, adding that the average figure is 6.9% in Russia.
The Health and Social Development Ministry said earlier on Friday that the number of registered unemployed has gone down in Russia over the year from 2.1 million to 1.6 million, a drop from 8.2% to 7.2%. In real terms, there were 5.4 million unemployed in Russia at the start of 2011, the ministry said.
