Page 45 - RusRPTDec22

4.5 Labour and income
4.5.1 Labour market, unemployment dynamics
Russia’s unemployment rate increased to 3.9% in September of 2022 from a record low of 3.8% in the previous month. The number of unemployed people increased by 32 thousand from a month earlier to 2.887mn people, and those officially registered as unemployed fell by 58 thousand to 0.748mn. In September 2021, the jobless rate was higher at 4.3%.
The partial mobilisation that started on September 21 has also hit the labour market with Russian company surveys from October revealing that about a third of respondents said that the mobilisation had affected their employees. An even larger share of firms said they expected the mobilisation to affect negatively the labour market and demand in coming months.
Total wage arrears in Russia as of November 1, 2022, amounted to RUB883.5mn ($14.5mn), according to the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat). The overall debts moved down by 6.2% or by RUB58.9mn ($0.97mn) against the level as at October 1, 2022, the statistical service says. Debts generated in 2022 amount to RUB474.6mn rubles ($7.8mn) or 53.7%, in 2021 - RUB115.3mn ($1.9mn) or 13.1%, and in 2020 and earlier - RUB293.6mn ($5.6mn) or 45.9% of total debts. Processing industries account for 46.3% in the total volume of wage arrears, construction accounts for 10.8%, agriculture, hunting and related services and lumbering for 8.7%, electricity, gas and steam supply and air conditioning by 7.4%, mineral resources mining for 6.8%, water supply, drainage, waste gathering and disposal and pollution response for 6.4%, research and developments for 5.6%, and transport for 4.4%.
Russia's tech industry is seeing significant departures. A recent survey found that 25% of IT workers were considering leaving the country and 6% had already done so this year.
45 RUSSIA Country Report December 2022 www.intellinews.com