Unemployment high and rising, says Labour Minister

Unemployment in Tajikistan continues to rise and its real level is not reflected in official statistics, Labour and Employment Minister Rafiqa Musoyeva said in the Tajik capital Dushanbe on Friday, Asia-Plus news agency reported. The number of people in work had fallen by more than 260,000 in the last eight years alone, and unemployment had increased from 8,000 to 50,000 during that period, the report quoted Musoyeva as saying. “The official unemployment level was three percent in the first nine months of this year, but the figure does not reflect the real level of unemployment,” he said. “If we take into account the fact that over 222,000 people from the listed number of employees do not receive salaries, then the hidden level of unemployment will reach 16.3 percent by the end of 2000,” Musoyeva said. The working-age population of Tajikistan now stood at over three million people, the report said.