Chief Economist of VEB.RF Klepach predicted unemployment at the level of 3.5-3.6% for the year

Andrei Klepach, chief economist at VEB.RF, said during the Winter Grain Conference in the Altai Territory that by the end of this year, the unemployment rate in Russia could decrease to 3.5-3.6%. According to Rosstat, in January this figure made up 3.6% and updated the historical low.

According to Mr. Klepach, who cites TASS, unemployment in 2023 will decrease, because people are involved in hostilities and construction, which is taking place in four new regions of the Russian Federation. There is a shortage of labor and will continue to grow, the economist noted.

He also recalled that the real incomes of the population of the Russian Federation in 2022 decreased by 1%. Mr. Klepach believes that the decline would have been more than 3% if it were not for the measures on payments to large families and those mobilized. This year, the real incomes of the population will grow, taking into account the measures already taken and additional decisions, he said.

In January report Rosstat on the socio-economic situation in Russia says that the number of labor force aged 15 years and older in January 2023 amounted to 75.6 million people, of which 2.7 million were unemployed. In February, in the secretariat of Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova reportedthat by the end of 2022 the number of registered unemployed in Russia amounted to 564 thousand people, which is almost 30% less than a year earlier (777 thousand people).

Erdni Kagaltynov