In the Vitebsk region, the number of registered unemployed has been declining since May 2016, as reported at the final meeting of the committee for labor, employment, and social protection of the regional executive committee.

In general, positive trends were observed in the registered labor market, in the sphere of employment and unemployment in the region in 2016. Compared to 2015, both the number of unemployed registrations and the number of registered unemployed decreased.

"More than 34 thousand people applied for employment assistance, of which 23.2 thousand were registered as unemployed - 13% less than in 2015. The trend of decreasing the number of registered unemployed has been observed since May 2016. As of January 1, 2017, there were 5015 of them, which is 15% less than at the beginning of 2016," noted Alexander Khristoforov.

At the same time, the structure of registered unemployed has practically not changed. As before, about a third of citizens are those dismissed by agreement of the parties, and every fifth person has not worked anywhere for a long time, more than a year.

"It should be noted that there has been a decrease in registrations as unemployed due to dismissal for violation of labor discipline and at one's own request. Today, the average unemployed person is a man aged 42.5 years, with vocational and technical education, dismissed by agreement of the parties," added Alexander Khristoforov. The region is currently inhabited by about 1.2 million people, of whom 705 thousand are labor resources. The main part of them works in the economy, with the production sector accounting for about 40% and the service sector - 60%. The employment rate of the population has not significantly changed and is 72%.

At the same time, the number of employed people decreased by 3%. The main reasons for this are related to the optimization of staff, including as a result of reconstruction and technical re-equipment of production.

Ekaterina Knyazeva - BELTA.