In Russia unemployment reached an eight-year high

This is evidenced by the published preliminary data of Rosstat . According to official statistics, the unemployment rate rose to 6.2% in June from 6.1% in May. In April, the figure was at the level of 5.8% , in March - 4.7%.

The last time the excess of 6% was recorded in March 2012, when the indicator reached 6.5%. It was exactly 6% in 2016, and also in March.

The minimum unemployment rate was registered in August 2019. Then the figure was 4.3%.

At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that the government has managed to prevent an explosive rise in unemployment in the country. According to the Ministry of Economic Development, 680 thousand workers were laid off during the pandemic.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said that during non-working days, official unemployment in the country increased 3.5 times. Labor Minister Anton Kotyakov said earlier that in mid-June, the number of officially registered unemployed in the country increased to 2.4 million. Experts tend to believe that official unemployment data are significantly different from real indicators. For example, the head of the recruiting portal SuperJob Alexei Zakharov believes that real unemployment in the country has long passed the 10 million mark, and by the fall the number of unemployed Russians will double.

Moreover, half of Russians are ready to agree to lower salaries, if only they were hired.