April 30, 2015. 14,000 employees of Sverdlovsk Region-based enterprises had to switch to working part-time; another 5,000 workers are now on unpaid leaves, Chair of Sverdlovsk Region Trade Union Federation Andrei Vetluzhskikh said at a press conference.

‘They could all lose their jobs in the nearest future. There are currently 32,700 people registered with Sverdlovsk Region unemployment agencies, and another 19,000 could join them soon,’ he said.

According to Vetluzhskikh, things have grown much worse lately: a year ago, there were virtually no employees working part-time or on unpaid leaves in the area.