UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 3, 2016. The overall trend remains negative on Yekaterinburg labor market and has recently been estimated to drop down to -0.11, HeadHunter reports. Job-seekers in Civil Service, Banking, Investment & Leasing, and Top Management find the situation the most uncomfortable; their mood rates dropped to -0.21, -0.18, and -0.17, respectively, whereas those in Medical Services, Sales, and IT appear best off. According to HeadHunter, Yekaterinburg-based employees are not secure about their jobs, less secure, in fact, than in other parts of Russia. People employed in

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 3, 2016. 3.5% less new housing was commissioned in Ural Federal District last year compared with the year 2014; the figure came to 7.701m m2, Rosstat reports. Broken down by constituencies, the decrease was 36.7% (246,400 m2) in Kurgan Region, 21.8% (872,900 m2) in Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous Region, 14.6% (1.707m m2) in Chelyabinsk Region, and 1.8% (266,100 m2) in Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Region. In Sverdlovsk Region, 2.5% more new housing was commissioned in 2015 against 2014 (2.483m m2, including 1.2m m2 inYekaterinburg (up 160,000 m2 on 2014)). In Tyumen

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 3, 2016. Sverdlovsk Region-based businesses made 15,655 people redundant last year, the Labor & Employment Department’s press secretary Olga Ruleva informed UrBC. According to Ruleva, 114 companies cut down on their staff in 2015 altogether. ‘Mostly, the people who were made redundant had been employed in civil administration and military security and social welfare organizations (16%), processing industries (15%), banking (12.7%), transportation and communication (10.8%), fossil development (7.3%), and the building industry (5.7%),’ she said.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 3, 2016. Their own carbide mills are now being tested at Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant in Nizhniy Tagil. The mills were developed by the corporation’s own designers and made by employees from the Tool-Making Department. This is all part of the company’s import substitution program, the company press service reports. ‘This is a project we are working on in cooperation with our long-standing partner Kirovgrad Carbide Plant. Four batches of ten mills each, with the diameters of 10, 16, 18, and 20 mm have been made so far. These mills will be used for

UrBC, Moscow, February 2, 2016. Russian banks issued their private customers a total of 21.7m loans last year, which was 29% less than one year earlier. Also, the overall loan amount nearly halved (the figure went down by 46%) and amounted to 4.5 trillion RUR, Prime refers to the United Credit Bureau as stating. The number of car loans issued to private customers, for instance, dropped by as much as 57%, down to 230,600, with the consolidated loan amount down to 147bn RUR (2.2 times less than in 2014). The average amount of money lent per borrowing party rose from 608,000 RUR to 638,000 RUR

UrBC, Moscow, February 2, 2016. A new car cost an average of 1.2m RUR on the Russian market last year, which was 20% more than one year previously, Avtostat reports. The price of LandRovers rose most noticeably, by a whopping 61% on average. Cadillac and Volvo ranges grew, respectively, 48% and 43% more expensive, while the prices of Opel and Peugeut varieties increased by 38% and 35%, respectively. Citroen, Toyota, and Audi all grew 30% more expensive on average. The Russian brands Lada and UAZ now come 15% and 18% less cheap. Avtostat’s Director Sergei Tselikov feels the weakened national

UrBC, Moscow, February 2, 2016. The number of Russia’s jobless rose by 3.4% by January 27 and came to 1m people, RIA Novosti refers to the Labor Ministry as saying. ‘The number of people officially out of jobs went up by 3.4% between January 20 and January 27 and came to 1,001,111 people (against 968,639 people on January 20),’ the press service says. Unemployment was actually on the decline in three Russian federal constituencies – Komi, Ingushetiya, and Kirov Region, and on the increase in eighty-two constituencies. The situation looked most worrying in Tyva, the Crimea, Altai, Buryatia,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 2, 2016. Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (a member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation) supplied its last diesel-electric tractor DET 250 to Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works/MMK, the corporation’s press service reports. ‘It has been suggested that we should deliver new-generation vehicles to MMK, but the customer insisted on the ‘classical version’, since these are these machines that are used at most of MMK’s ore mining enterprises. So the latest shipment will be used for ore transportation as well,’ the press service says. Head of the company Sales

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 2, 2016. Stanislav Rovnov, Deputy Director of Uraltransmash (a member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation) and Andrei Palferov, the company’s Deputy Senior Civilian Goods Engineer, were invited by the city mayor Boris Albegov to come to Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia. According to the company press service, Albegov coordinated talks on the options of leasing ten new trams for Vladikavkaz depots. The negotiations were also attended by Fobos-TS Director-General Sergei Lazarev, Director of Sberbank’s North Caucasian branch Dmitri Tokarev, and head of the city

February 1, 2016. Kamensk Uralsky Foundry Plant/KULZ (a member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation) completed its upgrades of a 1,500-kg arc-smelting furnace. According to the company press service, some radical changes were introduced to the electric components of the furnace which is responsible for the smelting process. ‘The furnace operator used to have to change the position of the electrode rods with a remote control all the time to ensure even heating, but now the heating arc gets calibrated automatically. The operator only needs to adjust the basic settings,’ the press service

February 1, 2016. Russians spent 1.78 trillion RUR on new cars last year, which was 23.7%, or 553bn RUR less than in the year 2014, Avtostat reports. The market sagged by a total of 36.2%, or 846 units in quantitative terms. Some 200bn RUR were used to buy Toyotas (down 21.3% on one year previously), nearly 190bn RUR were spent on the German brand Mercedes-Benz (up 8.7%), and 130bn RUR were spent on Hyundai and Kia each (down 4.3% and 16.3%, respectively). Lada only came fifth in the rating, with 126.1bn RUR spent on the new cars (down 20.1% on the year 2014). Head of Avtostat Azat

February 1, 2016. Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Tax Service inspected local businesses’ till machines in over 3,500 inspections last year; this was 5% less than one year earlier. Their press service reports that existing legal regulations were violated by till operators in 96% of cases, which was 5% more than in 2014. The offenders had to pay 20.514m RUR in fines (up 2.6%, or 529,000 RUR, on the year 2014), with 17.912m RUR (87% of the entire fine amount) already transferred to the budget funds. The offenses in question mainly had to do with either complete lack of tills or

February 1, 2016. Pipe Metallurgical Company/TMK plans to ship considerably more products to customers both on the domestic and the international markets this year, the company press service says. TMK sold 3,873,000,000 kg of steel pipes to customers last year, which was 11.5% less than in the year 2014. This was mainly because the company’s American customers needed fewer pipes since their drilling activity declined. The shipments dropped by 4% in the last quarter of the year compared with the third quarter and reached 938,000,000 kg. Weldless pipe shipments dropped by 5% compared with 2014

February 1, 2016. It has been suggested that Vasenin, a documentary sponsored by Russian Copper Company, should be part of UNESCO Memory of the World Programme and placed on the World Heritage List, the film sponsor reports. The motion picture, created by a young film crew from the Urals, centers on Nikolai Vasenin, a veteran of both world wars and an honorary citizen of Berezovsky, Sverdlovsk Region. The film premiered in 2015, around the V-Day 70th anniversary, and received both the cinematic community and the viewers’ acclaim. Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov, the TV

UrBC, Moscow, January 29, 2016. The Russian car manufacturer AvtoVAZ is going to cut its workers’ wages by 20%, Kommersant reports. ‘The pay will go down by 20% starting from February 15. Also, some 5,000 employees have already been switched to social work,’ President Bo Andersson said. It is explained the decision was taken since AvtoVAZ switches to a four-day week on February 15. The company’s BOD decided in November 2015 that production optimization and job cuts through natural decline were necessary. AvtoVAZ also warned that a shortened week or switching some workers to social work were

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 29, 2016. Sverdlovsk Region is facing flu medicine and protective supplies shortage. According to Tagilsky Rabochiy, all pharmacies in Nizhniy Tagil’s Gornozavodskoy District are out of oxolinic ointment; medical face masks are out in short supply. Additionally, there are not enough flu medicines available. ‘Just a few kinds have been proven to fight and prevent flu, including Tamifiu; this particular brand isn’t cheap and costs around 2,000 RUR. Our pharmacies are already out of it and are only expected to get some in stock early next week,’ head of the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 29, 2016. Students from N.A.Demidov Nizhniy Tagil State Vocational School complain their monthly scholarships did not come in time. Ves Tagil reports their January allowances still haven’t been distributed; this affected orphaned underage students particularly badly. ‘They say the money will only come at the end of February, and I just don’t know what to do. Don’t they care at all, how are students with no parents supposed to get by?’, one of the students said. The school management admitted the funding was running late. The school director Svetlana Morozova says

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 29, 2016. Three representatives of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation are going to become members of Nizhniy Tagil Public Chamber. The company press service reports the candidates – Svetlana Aldushina and Vladimir Danilkin from the corporation’s youth club and Director of UBT-Ekologia – were supported by Nizhniy Tagil Duma deputies. Also, Mayor Sergei Nosov suggested six candidates himself, including Chair of Ural Vagon Zavod’s trade union Evgeny Lutokhin. This is the first time this Public Chamber is called in Nizhniy Tagil; there will be eighteen members there all in

UrBC, Moscow, January 29, 2016. Sverdlovsk Region’s employers failed to pay their workers a total of 8.4m RUR in wages and salaries in time, Rosstat reports. In Russia on the whole, the figure came to 3.572bn RUR. 32% of the overall amount is owed by employers in the processing industries, 26% by those in the transport sector, 23% by those in the construction industry, 6% by those in the fossil industry, and 5% by those in the agricultural, hunting, and timber industries. On average, 24% of the overall delayed amount was the workers’ last month’s pay; this figure came to as much as 49% in the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 28, 2016. 159 people were killed in road accidents in Sverdlovsk Region this winter, head of the local road police department Yuri Demin announced at an off-site Cabinet meeting in Kamyshlov. Demin said 1,054 accidents occurred in the Mid-Urals over the given period, with 1,387 casualties all in all. The official believes the poor condition of local roads was the main reason for so many accidents this winter. He feels the municipal and constituency road maintenance services are at fault. Local officials actually admitted last year that they did not manage to