Russian federal labour and employment service head Yuri Gertsiy expects no unemployment surge in 2009.
"We do not expect unemployment surge but suppose that the number of jobless will increase to some degree," he told a news conference on Thursday.
He reiterated the Economic Development Ministry's forecast saying that the number of jobless in Russia will reach 2.2 million. He also cited the estimates of the International Labour Organization.
According to the ILO methodology at present 5 million people or 6.6 percent of Russia's 76-million economically active population are unemployed.
"As of January 1, 2009 around 1.522 million unemployed or 2 percent of the economically active population were registered in Russia," Gertsiy cited the official data.
He stressed that Rostrud takes efforts to reduce tensions on the labour market. The government allocated 43.7 billion roubles to implement in different regions programs aimed at employing and retraining those who lost jobs.
Source: ITAR-TASS
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