Statistics Committee posts unemployment figures

The unemployment rate decreased to 7.1 percent in October 2002 (5.1m employable people did not have a job but were actively searching for it), compared to 7.6 percent in September 2002 (5.4m people), the Russian State Statistics Committee reported. Some 1.2m people were registered at state unemployment centers, which was 1.7 percent of the total number of employable people in Russia.

The number of employable people was 72.4m in Russia at the end of October 2002, compared to 71.5m in September.