Russian economy is expected to dip into a three percent recession in 2015 and both private companies and public authorities experience increasing hardship. Figures from several regions indicate increasing problems also in the employment market.
In Murmansk, regional Governor Marina Kovtun has announced that publicly employed staff in 2015 will be reduced by 10 percent.
General statistics from Murmanskstat, the regional office of Rosstat, show a significant jobless rate increase in the first months of the year. According to the statistical data, unemployment in Murmansk in the period December 2014-February 2015 totaled 8,2 percent, an increase of about 1,5 percent compared with figures from 2014.
However, unemployment in Murmansk and the neighboring Russian regions is still historically low. In a recent meeting with President Putin, Minister of Employment Maksim Topilin underlined that unemployment remains on an “acceptable level” and that “the situation is under control”. According to the minister, unemployment figures on national level in February amounted to 5,8 percent, an increase of only 0,2 percent compared with the same period 2014.
According to Patchwork Barents, the regional statistical database, average unemployment in the Russian part of the Barents region raged between 8,1 percent (Karelia) and 6,1 percent (Komi). In Murmansk Oblast, unemployment in 2014 amounted to 6,7 percent. That was the second lowest figure since 1993. In 1999, unemployment in Murmansk peaked with 21,1 percent, figures from the data portal show.
As a matter of fact, unemployment in Northwest Russia is on a significantly lower level than in neighboring Finland and Sweden. The region with the highest jobless figures is the Finnish province of Kainuu were as much as 17,9 percent of the economically active population is unemployed. The region is followed by Oulu and Lapland, also Finnish regions, where unemployment totals 10,2 and 9,7 percent respectively. In the Swedish part of the Barents Region, Norrbotten is the area with the highest unemployment (7,7%). In Norway, the region of Finnmark has an unemployment of 2,4 percent.
