Unemployment in CIS countries increases

The world financial crisis is gravely influencing CIS countries. According to rough estimations 11 to 15 million people might lose their jobs. Of these around 9 million will be Russian citizens.

Russia is the home of a large number of migrants from different CIS countries. Official data states that in 2008 more than 14 million foreigners emigrated to Russia, 3.6 million from Ukraine, 2 million from Uzbekistan, 1.5 million from Kazakhstan and so on. Analysts suppose that this figure will be greater in 2009.

Russia is planning to carry out special measures to protect its citizens. For instance, it is introducing restrictions on people without Russian visas gaining employment. They are being given temporary permits not for one year as previously but 3 months only.

The International Trade Union Confederation says that the greatest percentage of unemployed among the work-capable population in CIS countries is in Armenia. The smallest CIS unemployment rates are in Kazakhstan and Belarus. The highest average salary is in Russia. The data does not give information about the situation in Georgia.