Mrs. Zinaida Alexandrovna Rijikova,

Data are disseminated on the estimated number of unemployed persons in the Russian Federation. Monthly unemployment data and rates of change compared with the correspondent period of the previous year are published.

Unemployed persons include those in the age range established for the measurement of economic activity who, during the period in question, simultaneously met the following criteria:

• had no job (profitable occupation);
• were seeking for a job; and
• were ready to start working during the reference week.

Pupils, students, pensioners, and disabled persons are considered unemployed if they had no job, were seeking for job and were ready to start working.

Data are published on the basis of monthly labor force surveys. Until September 2009 estimations were conducted on the basis of quarterly labor force surveys and monthly data of the Federal Service for Labour and Employment on the number of unemployed persons registered at employment offices).

The sample labour force survey is conducted monthly in all the Russian regions. The planned sample size is approximately 69,000 persons aged 15-72 monthly or 0.06% of the total population of these age groups or approximately 820,000 persons calculated on an annual basis (0,73%).

The labor force survey is performed once per month as of the second week of the month. The critical (survey) week runs from Monday through Sunday.

Data on total unemployment are compiled in accordance with International Labour Organization (ILO) standards.

The compilation and dissemination of the data are governed by the terms and conditions of the Federal Law of November 29, 2007, № 282-FZ "On Official Statistical Accounting System and State Statistics in the Russian Federation", the Federal Law of July 27, 2006 "On Personal Data", and the Statute on the Federal State Statistics Service, adopted by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation on June 02, 2008 №420.

Article 1 of the Statute stipulates that the Federal State Statistics Service (the Rosstat) shall provide official statistical information on the country's social, economic, demographic and ecologic status.

Article 5.2 of the Statute stipulates that the Federal State Statistics Service shall develop and approve with its competence the official statistical methodology for conducting of the statistical observations and compilation of indicators, and provide conformity of the specified methodology to the international standards.

Article 5.16 of the Statute stipulates that the Rosstat shall provide with its competence in appropriate way the safekeeping and protection of operation, banking, tax, and commercial and other confidential information, received by the Rosstat during its activities.

As a rule, the data are final when first released and they are not identified as preliminary such in publications, disseminated by the Rosstat.

The final data are published within 5 weeks after the end of the reference period for the most recent labor force survey in the monthly Rosstat bulletin Socio-economic Situation in Russia and within 7 weeks after the end of the reference period in the quarterly bulletin Population Survey of Employment Problems.

The methodology for compiling specific indicators of the unemployment statistics is published in Methodological Principles in Statistics.

A copy may be ordered from the Information and Publishing Center "Statistics of Russia" (see the Dissemination Formats Page).

Data on unemployment can be cross-checked by the public against detailed data broken down by regions of the Russian Federation, as well as information on the composition of unemployed labour force broken down by sex, age, educational level, marital status, occupation, and duration of job search, published in the following releases:

• Statistical Yearbook of Russia (in Russian only);
• Social Status and Living Standard in Russia (in Russian only);
• Labour and Employment in Russia (in Russian only);
• Regions of Russia. Social and Economic Indicators (in Russian only);
• Russia in Figures (both in Russian and in English)
• Economic Activity of Population (in Russian only);
• Population Survey of Employment Problems (in Russian only).