Russian Labor Minister says tension growing on labor market

MOSCOW. June 21 (Interfax) - Russian Labor and Social Protection Minister Anton Kotyakov has reported an increasing number of jobless people registered at employment centers.

"The number of jobless people registered at employment centers has been on the rise in Russia," Kotyakov said at an expanded meeting of the Federation Council Committee on Social Policy.

The trend emerged in June, while employment stayed within "the 660,000 to 680,000 corridor" before that, he said.

"We are observing a gradual growth in labor market tension to some extent," Kotyakov said.

He explained the situation, in particular, with the withdrawal of some foreign companies from the Russian market.

The government is working to prevent a deterioration of the labor market situation, and some results have been achieved, however, "the entrepreneurial community remains under pressure," he said.

"As we can see, there are two ways of departure of companies with foreign participation. Firstly, there is a change of ownership, [...] in which case employment centers and Russian constituent territories help the new owner keep the workforce, build technological chains, and organize employee retraining. There are also examples of companies that terminate their activity, in which case our efforts are focused on interaction with every worker," Kotyakov said.