The situation on the Russian labor market began to stabilize against the background of a decrease in registered unemployment.

This was announced on Thursday, October 15, at a meeting of the State Duma Committee on Budget and Taxes by the head of the Ministry of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov.  

“According to the data on registered unemployment, we have started a reduction, and this gives us some expectations for a certain reduction - well, or at least stabilization of the unemployment situation by the end of September,” Reshetnikov stressed.

As Russian President Vladimir Putin noted on Thursday, the unemployment situation has worsened in general throughout the country.

According to experts, the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and the temporary introduction of quarantine restrictions, as well as the suspension of the work of a number of companies and enterprises, had a negative impact on the labor market.

As a result, from March to August the unemployment rate in Russia increased from 4.6 to 6.4%, and the total number of unemployed increased from 3.5 to 4.8 million people.

Such data are provided by Rosstat.

Meanwhile, in September, Russia passed the peak of unemployment.

This was announced on October 13 by the Minister of Labor and Social Protection Anton Kotyakov.

According to him, from August to September the number of Russians registered with the employment services increased from 3.6 to 3.7 million. And in October the figure began to decline and has now dropped to 3.63 million people.

According to Maxim Reshetnikov, the current state of affairs in the employment sector is still difficult.

At the same time, the Ministry of Economic Development predicts a decrease in the unemployment rate in the near future.

According to the ministry's estimates, by the end of 2020 the figure will be 5.7%, in 2021 it will drop to 5.2%, and in the next two years it will return to pre-crisis values ​​of 4.6-4.7%.

At the same time, it is assumed that the total number of unemployed in Russia by the end of 2020 will decrease to 4.3 million people, in 2021 it will reach 4 million, and in 2023 it will be 3.5 million. This is stated in the forecast of the socio-economic development of the Russian Federation, prepared by the ministry.

“Unemployment has already begun to decline gradually.

Enterprises gradually began to return to work as usual after the spring quarantine, so the number of vacancies increased.

The average monthly growth rate of vacancies from July to September was 8%, and the resume was 5%.

If in the summer eight candidates applied for one job, then in September there were only six, ”Artyom Deev, head of the analytical department at AMarkets, told RT.

According to the expert, measures of state support for business and the population had a positive impact on the labor market.

In particular, we are talking about the provision of credit holidays, direct payments to families with children, an increase in unemployment benefits, as well as soft loans and tax breaks for companies and entrepreneurs.

“The further situation on the labor market will also depend on the provision of direct assistance to the most affected sectors and the continuation of the program of concessional loans to pay wages.

This is especially true for small and medium-sized businesses, which employ at least 20 million people.

Measures to reduce the tax burden for entrepreneurs are also relevant - its growth would lead to an increase in the number of bankruptcies and the withdrawal of companies from the market, which would only exacerbate the situation with unemployment, ”added Deev.

According to Maxim Reshetnikov, within the framework of anti-crisis programs, the government has financed preferential loans to businesses in the total amount of 1.4 trillion.

According to the minister, the provision of loans to enterprises and companies for the payment of wages allowed to save about 5 million jobs.

  • © Alexey Kudenko / RIA Novosti

A gradual economic recovery from the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic should accelerate the decline in unemployment in Russia.

This point of view in a conversation with RT was expressed by Georgy Ostapkovich, director of the Center for Market Research at the Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge at the Higher School of Economics.

On October 13, the International Monetary Fund improved its forecast for the Russian economy for 2020.

According to the organization, the country's GDP will decline by 4.1% instead of the 6.6% expected earlier.

At the same time, the IMF believes that in 2021 the economy will demonstrate recovery growth and grow by 2.8%.

“The growth of the economy, respectively, leads to an increase in production and profit of enterprises.

In this case, their managers will be interested in hiring new employees and raising salaries.

If the economy starts working and the conservative scenario of a pandemic is implemented, then it is quite possible to reach the pre-pandemic level of unemployment somewhere by the end of 2021, ”Ostapkovich said.

According to him, repeated quarantine measures could restrain economic growth and reduce unemployment.

However, as noted by Maxim Reshetnikov, the authorities do not expect the introduction of new restrictions.

“Both in the baseline and in the conservative version of the forecast, a long-term preservation of a certain level of sanitary and epidemiological restrictions is assumed.

But neither the one nor the other option has a second hard lockdown - the way it was in the spring, "Reshetnikov explained.