Number of jobless people, employees having downtime increases in Russia

MOSCOW. June 10 (Interfax) - The number of registered unemployed citizens in Russia increased by 608 from May 30 to June 6, and the number of employees having downtime increased by 3,700, the office of Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said following a meeting of the interdepartmental working group on the recovery of the labor market.

"From May 30 to June 6 the number of registered unemployed people increased by 608 to 687,000. The number of citizens working half-day or part-time practically did not change and reached 130,300. The number of workers having downtime increased by 3,700, from 131,900 to 135,600," Golikova's office told reporters.

Applications from citizens for professional training continue being received under the Assisting Employment federal project of the Demography national project. More than 27,800 people have started training and 2,911 have completed it.

"There are plans to train at least 245,000 citizens this year, more than 1,500 educational establishments are involved in the training activities," the office said.

Besides, employment services continue taking proactive measures. A total of 3,455 individual plans of events that include federal and regional support measures have been developed for employers. A total of 2,556 consultation points have been organized, including 923 points on employers' premises and 1,633 in employment centers. Mobile brigades have been sent to enterprises and personal curators have been assigned to organizations in 84 regions.

Russian Labor and Social Security Minister Anton Kotyakov earlier said the situation on the labor market remains stable, but said its further development will depend on decisions made by specific companies, including foreign ones, on operations in Russia.

Kotyakov also said the government has various forecasts of the situation's development and the measures "that have now been formed proactively to support the labor market are quite extensive."

On June 1, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said that unemployment in Russia fell to the all-time low at 4.0% in April from 4.1% in March 2022, reaching lowest level since records began in 1991. Unemployment was 4.1% in February 2022. The previous low at 4.3% was seen in August 2019 and again in September 2021, holding at that level until December inclusive. Unemployment rose to 4.4% in January 2022.

There were 3.005 million jobless people in April 2022, down 73,000 from March 2022.