Ukraine Has More Unemployed Than Meets the Eye

On September 14 the State Employment Service made public new unemployment figures for Ukraine. As of September 1, 4.24% of the labor force were registered as unemployed. However, Ella LIBANOVA who heads the Department of Human Development Research of the Productive Forces Research Council, Ukrainian National Academy of Science, informed The Day that according to the latest survey of the Ukrainian Statistics Committee the rate of real unemployment is running at 12%. This figure does not include those who are underemployed and for various reasons are able to work only part-time. Ms. Libanova claims such partial unemployment affects 25% of working Ukrainians. She also recalled a dangerous tendency: about 6% of people have been unsuccessfully trying to find a job in their professional field for more than a year. Experts think that at this stage even if they are finally hired it will be very difficult for them to adapt to the new working conditions. Ukrainian employment agencies are doing their best to deal this problem but most people do not turn to them as they know about the meager unemployment benefits.

The registered unemployment rates are especially high in the following oblasts: Kyiv, Transcarpathia, Volyn, Chernihiv, Sumy, Ternopil, Rivne, and Zhytomyr at 6-7.95%. According to Interfax-Ukrayina, as of September 1, 1.9 million people were officially unemployed. This is up 10% from the same period of last year. From January to August 2.2 million people were on the books of the State Employment Service. According to data for September 1, 2000, each job opening was claimed by 15 people vs. 21 people last year. In June the average unemployment benefit came to UAH 53.70 (a little under $10).