Over the last year, unemployment in the region has declined 0,7 percent from 2,8 percent (August 2007) to 2,1 percent (August 2008), Murman.ru reports. Only 9800 people are now registered as unemployed. Murmansk Oblast has a population of 850,000 of which 320,000 live in the city of Murmansk. The industrialized region faces a number of major new projects both within mining and metallurgy and within oil and gas.
