UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 11, 2016. 37,195 people registered with Sverdlovsk Region’s employment agencies as officially out of jobs between January 1 and March 9, 2016; this exceeded the figures for late December by 9.6%, Head of Sverdlovsk Region Labor & Employment Department Dmitri Antonov said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg.

‘The increase has to do with seasonal factors as well as the economic downfall. One year earlier, for example, unemployment was up by 16%,’ Antonov said.

According to Antonov, 1,396 people are expected to be made redundant in the near future, and over 10,000 people are finding themselves forced to work part-time.