Minister says Russian unemployment to peak in July–September

MOSCOW, May 27 (PRIME) -- Russian unemployment will peak in July–September, Labor Minister Anton Kotyakov told President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

"Our estimates show that the peak in the number of unemployed will happen in the third quarter," Kotyakov said.

About 2 million Russians have been fired since April 1, and about 1.6 million people hired, Kotyakov said.

Putin said that the coronavirus has caused large disruption in the entire economy.

"The coronavirus epidemic and related restrictions, as we know quite well, have negatively affected the economies of all countries in the world: demand, business activity have fallen, cooperation ties and investment plans have been suspended. This affects our industries, our facilities the most serious way," Putin said.

Kotyakov said that Russia is coping with the situation better than some developed states. "Significant growth of unemployment is a global trend… But thanks to the support measures for the business and the population, the Russian Federation has managed to avoid a manifold increase of this figure. The situation on the Russian labor market is better than in some of the developed states," he said.

Kotyakov said that more than 400,000 people in Russia receive the maximum unemployment benefit, about 140,000 unemployed people are receiving benefits on about 230,000 children under 18.

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