17 Jul 2009 15:44

Russian unemployment falls to 8.3% in June

MOSCOW. July 17 (Interfax) - The total number of unemployed in Russia fell to 6.3 million people in June 2009 and the unemployment rate was 8.3%, the Industry and Trade Ministry told Interfax.

The ministry uses data from Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) in its computations.

It was reported earlier citing Rosstat preliminary data that the number of unemployed in May was 7.5 million people for an unemployment rate of 9.9%.

Rosstat possibly revised its evaluation for May, since otherwise the drop in unemployment in June amounted to 1.2 million, a very substantial increase even allowing for the traditional surge in employment in summer, the Interfax Center for Economic Analysis said.

Rosstat will publish its official report on Monday.