500 000 Workers May Find Themselves In Street

Even the Ministry of Economy has acknowledged that there is a problem of unemployment.

20 thousand people work at the enterprises, which are going through the bankruptcy procedures, and another 470 thousand work at the enterprises, which are in a difficult financial state. The Ministry of Economy acknowledged that about half a million of people in total are under the threat of dismissal.

Meanwhile, four people run for one vacancy at the state Employment Agency according to the official estimates. To be the first who will get to the office of the employment officer the dismissed workers occupy a place in front of the employment center from six in the morning – 2 hours before its opening, according to "Belsat".

However, despite the difficult situation, not all are willing to accept the wages offered by the government services. Private recruitment agencies state that the wages offered by the employers, fell by approximately 20% in rubles, if compared to the previous year.

There are less and less job offers, while the number of seekers has increased by four and a half times since last year.

A snowball of reductions has finally caused an indirect recognition of the problem by the authorities. The Ministry of Economy announced that they are working out options for increasing of unemployment benefits; however, they didn’t announce the specific terms and figures. Independent trade unions say that this is a long overdue measure and add other requirements.

However, according to the Ministry of Economy, the budget money is only enough for 11 months out of 12. Official trade unions suggest that the money for help for the unemployed should be collected directly from the enterprises and workers through contributions to the so-called guarantee fund. The response of the authorities to this proposal hasn’t yet been made public.

Independent trade unions say that the increase of the unemployment benefits is a long overdue step, but it does not solve the problem of unemployment itself. After all, without the market reforms, which the authorities refuse to perform, the dismissed people will not find a decent job.