About 8,600 people were registered as unemployed in Belarus as of 1 April 2021, 13.9% down from some 10,000 people on 1 April 2020, representatives of the Labor and Social Protection Ministry told BelTA.

The source specified that the unemployed include able-bodied citizens, who do not have a job and salaries and are registered with labor, employment, and social protection agencies for the sake of finding an appropriate job. These citizens have to be seeking a job and be ready to start working.

The registered unemployment level totaled 0.2% as of 1 April 2021. It did not change from 1 April 2020. The registered unemployment level amounted to 0.3% in Brest Oblast, Vitebsk Oblast, Grodno Oblast, and Mogilev Oblast, 0.2% in Gomel Oblast and Minsk Oblast, and 0.1% in the city of Minsk.

Employers offer about 74,300 jobs, 13.2% down from about 85,600 jobs the year before. The demand is traditionally high for blue-collar workers – 61.6% of the total number of vacancies. There are 19 job openings per one unemployed in Minsk, 13.7 in Minsk Oblast, 8.8 in Gomel Oblast, 8.7 in Grodno Oblast, 5.7 in Mogilev Oblast, 5.5 in Brest Oblast, and 5 in Vitebsk Oblast.

About 30,000 people contacted labor, employment, and social protection agencies for assistance with their employment in January-March 2021. Of them some 16,900 people were registered as unemployed. In Q1 2021 some 20,700 people found permanent jobs, 1,100 people were sent to learn the professions the labor market needs, 6,500 people participated in paid social work, and 22 families of the unemployed were relocated to new places of residence.

Written by: belta.by