UrBC, Moscow, January 13, 2020. Russian market’s clothing and footwear sales dropped for the first time since 2015 last year, Kommersant refers to Fashion Consulting Group (FCG)’s research findings as indicating. In 2019, the country’s fashion market shrank by 3% to 4% (down to RUB 2.26-2.29 trillion). The sales of clothes, shoes, and accessories declined for the first time since 2015, when the turnover decreased by 9% (down to RUB 2.27 trillion). A year later, the market’s turnover rose by 1% (up to RUB 2.3 trillion) and a year after that - by 3% (up to RUB 2.36 trillion). Analysts believe

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 13, 2020. There were 22,116 people officially out of the workforce in Sverdlovsk Region as of January 9, 2020, the constituency’s Labor & Employment Department reports. As of January 1, 2019, the figure was 21,726. The registered unemployment rate in the area rose from 0.97% to 1.03% over the course of one year.

UrBC, Asbest, January 13, 2020. Some thirty Kyrgyzstan nationals qualified and work as charge makers at OOO FORES’s Asbest branch. The training took about five months to complete, the company’s press service reports. ‘There are over 1,100 people working at FORES’s Asbest branch at the moment. 75% of them are Asbest natives, the rest come to do their shifts from nearby towns and villages. In 2019, more than a hundred new jobs were created at the plant, but we still have blue-collar job openings because of the natural staff turnover,’ the company says. In September 2019, the company accepted

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, January 13, 2020. MMK Group’s trade union launched a special program for the trade union members’ children during New Year’s break, Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Information & PR Department reports. New Year Tram cruised the streets of Magnitogorsk every day, giving the children an opportunity to get a ride, have fun, and learn some interesting facts about Magnitogorsk. More than 2,000 people took part in the project. New Year Tram is an edutainment project that MMK Group’s trade union has been running for the second year in a row. According to Chair at MMK

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 13, 2020. Ural Airlines introduced new flights from Yekaterinburg and Tyumen to Hainan, China this year. The new flights will become available in February 2020: Yekaterinburg-Haikou flights will get operated every Thursday starting February 6; Tyumen-Haikou flights will get operated every Friday starting February 7; Haikou-Tyumen flights will get operated every Friday starting February 7; Haikou-Yekaterinburg flights will get operated every Saturday starting February 8. All flights will get operated on the new Airbus A321neo with a tech stop in Novosibirsk, the