MOSCOW - RUSSIA'S unemployed will rise by over half a million in 2009, a government minister said Monday, reflecting the mounting toll of the global economic slowdown.
'We are estimating a level of 2.1 to 2.2 million people,' Health and Social Development Minister Tatyana Golikova was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency.
There are currently just under 1.5 million people who are registered as jobless with government unemployment centres.
However the actual number of unemployed in Russia is believed to be higher and could increase more sharply as the global financial crisis takes a deep bite out of the country's once-booming economy.
Earlier this month, a deputy minister of economic development said the total number of unemployed could rise by one million in 2009 to 5.6 million, meaning the jobless rate would rise to 7.6 per cent compared with 6.3 per cent in 2008.
Russia had 4.5 million unemployed in August according to surveys carried out by the State Statistics Service using a broader definition of unemployment, which includes people who have not necessarily registered as jobless.
Growth is expected to slow down sharply next year in Russia despite initial claims by officials that the country would escape the worst effects of the global financial crisis. -- AFP
