The number of jobless people in Ukraine grows daily. This year alone during past eight months 1,200,000 people have registered with the State Employment Service, up 50% over last year.
Employment service specialists estimate that the number of jobless people in Ukraine will be at least 2,400,000 by year's end.
Viktor Lukyanenko, Director of the State Employment Center thinks that the real number of jobless people can be calculated only polling households, i.e., surveying families. Thus, research conducted last November revealed that near 9% of the population able to work were unable to find a job. At the same time 2.9 million workers employed in large and middle state enterprises were on so-called administrative non-paid leave while 2.1 million (16.1% of those employed in industry and agriculture) worked part-time. The average duration of a worker's administrative leave was 553 hours, over three working months.
Recent data shows that the highest number of jobless live in Lviv, and Chernivtsi oblasts as well as in Ivano-Frankivsk, Transcarpathia, and Volyn.
Meanwhile, the unemployment compensation can be received for only 180 calendar days. Moreover, most jobless people were low-paid in their last jobs and thus receive a very low unemployment allowance. The average payment is 40 hryvnias. The long-term unemployed and those yet to find their first job (secondary school and university graduates) are allocated the rather symbolic sum of Hr 16.60.







