Unemployment in Russia down to 3.7%, number of vacancies several times greater than that of registered unemployed - Deputy PM Golikova

MOSCOW. Dec 30 (Interfax) - Thanks to measures being taken to support employment in Russia, the country's overall level of unemployment subsided to 3.7% in November, as the number of officially registered unemployed has decreased by 130,000 compared to figures seen in early March, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said.

"Since the beginning of this year, our common efforts were aimed at stimulating the employment of workers under risk of being dismissed due to sanctions pressure. Starting from this fall, we have also been focused on providing factories and certain industrial enterprises with manpower. In particular, it is thanks to this joint effort that the overall unemployment rate under the methodology of the International Labor Organization was at 3.7% in November. However, the previous month, October, saw [an overall unemployment rate of] 3.9%, and November of the pre-Covid year 2019, 4.6%," Golikova's office quoted her as saying on Friday at a meeting of the interagency working group on response to the labor market situation.

Presently, there are roughly 552,800 unemployed citizens registered with employment centers in Russia, a decrease by 130,000 from the level recorded as of March 1, she said. Meanwhile, the number of jobs available on the Rabota Rossii website is 3.5 times greater than that of registered unemployed people, she added.

According to Russian Labor Minister Anton Kotyakov, "the situation in the sphere of employment will remain favorable for job seekers in the near future, and unemployment will remain at low levels." "Our attention next year must be concentrated on equalizing the existing disparities in [workforce availability for different] professional skills and regions with regard to demand and supply. In 2023, the implementation of all the measures to support employment that were in place this year will continue. Relevant regulatory acts have already been adopted," Kotyakov said.