Analysts fear Russian unemployment
As the financial crisis is about to turn into a general economic downturn, numerous Russian companies prepares for the dismissal of a major number of employees. The companies fear they might have to sack key personnel.
In an interview with Bclass.ru, Professor Nikolay Volgin from the Russian Academy of State Service, says a number of the big Russian companies now plan to fire up to 30 percent of their staff as demands plummet.
During his visit to Arkhangelsk last week, Mr. Volgin said that the looming crisis could create a serious unemployment problem in Russia. He also did not exclude that parts of the unemployment might be “hidden”, with companies being reluctant to sack personnel and instead leaving them in the staff, but without salary payments.
The changing economic tide in Russia is already having consequences in the regions. According to Bclass.ru, the Ilim Group is considering to halt several major investment projects, among them a 9,9 billion RUB modernization of the company’s paper production in Arkhangelsk Oblast.
With the economic downturn could also follow serious social problems. As BarentsObserver recently reported, researcher Nikolay Petrov from the Moscow Carnegie Centre believes the situation could trigger social unrest and major changes in the Russian political landscape, as well as new centre-region relations.
