Russian president orders measures to lower unemployment rate

Russian president orders measures to lower unemployment rate

2011-03-02 05:22:47 GMT+7 (ICT)

MOSCOW (BNO NEWS) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday suggested helping unemployed people start their own businesses to lower the country's unemployment rate, which hit an eight-month high in January, RIA Novosti reported.

Official data show that unemployment in Russia in 2010 dropped to 5.6 million people, or 7.5% of the country's economically active population, from 6.4 million people (8.4%) in 2009. In January 2011, however, 5.7 million (7.6%) were registered as unemployed.

Medvedev instructed the government to devise measures to curb rising unemployment, and some of his suggestions included providing training in using modern production facilities and helping unemployed people start their own businesses. A few weeks ago, the president called on the Russian government not to "relax" in the fight against unemployment.

"Today we must think about switching from anti-crisis measures to long-term and systematic measures, in order not to lose what we have gained as a result of very difficult work at the peak of the [economic] crisis," Medvedev said.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-03-02