Unemployment on the raise

First quarter figures from Rosstat, the federal statistics service, show that unemployment in the Russian Arctic region has reached 9,0 percent. That is a more than ten percent increase compared with the same period last year. 

Not since 2004 have the jobless figures in the region been this high. 

The increase comes after a period with historically low regional unemployment. In 2014, only 6,7 percent of the workforce was officially without a job, the lowest figure since the early 1990s. In 2015, the figures increased to 7,8 percent, data from Rosstat inform. 

The Murmansk unemployment is slightly higher than in neighboring Arkhangelsk Oblast (6,8% in 2015) and Komi Republic (7,0%), and slightly lower than in the Republic of Karelia (8,8 percent in 2015). In all of Northwest Russia, the average jobless rate in 2015 was 4,7 percent.

However, in all the regions without exception, the unemployment figures are today on the rise. 

The trend comes as Russian economy is experiencing serious hardships. In 2015, the national economy contracted by 3,7 percent, and the downturn continues into 2016. 

It seems that unemployment so far has been kept low in the country by means of reducing salaries.

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In Murmansk, average monthly incomes dropped by almost 12 percent in 2014, and with an approximate additional 10 percent in 2015. In the first two months of 2016, salaries in the region fell another 3,3 percent, the regional branch of Rosstat informs on its website.