By the end of this year, the number of jobless citizens will reach three
million. This was disclosed on Tuesday by the Minister of Labor and Social
Policies Ivan Sakhan at the extended session of the Ministry board. He
said that in terms of unemployment, Ukraine has exceeded the indices of
not only West European countries but also of some transition economy states.
As of October 1998, the unemployment level in Ukraine was 11.3%, the
highest rates in Western Ukraine, Kirovohrad, Rivne, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
The situation is further complicated by the ever-growing imbalance between
workforce supply and demand along with an increasing demographic load.
Today, 100 gainfully-employed individuals care for an average 71, and even
up to 90 in some areas, nonworking ones.
According to the minister, the phenomenon of social payment arrears
that emerged in 1992 "turned into one of the most acute social problems"
in 1998. Total wage and salary arrears are Hr 6.9 billion. Mr. Sakhan noted
that, since half the citizens have a gross income below the official poverty
line of Hr 73.7 per month, arrears are "a constant factor of growing social
tension in society," Interfax-Ukraine reports.






