Official Unemployment in Ingushetia 12 Times Higher than for Russian Federation as a Whole, New Rosstat Figures Show

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Jan. 8 – Rosstat, the Russian government’s statistical arm, says that Ingushetia has the highest rate of unemployment in the country, 25.4 percent, 12 times the average for the country as a whole (rosstat.gov.ru/storage/mediabank/osn-11-2024.pd), with its figure likely understating the level of the problem even more than the all-Russian figure does.
    The situation in the other non-Russian republics of the North Caucasus, while not as dire as in Ingushetia, is also far worse than for the Russian Federation as a whole. In Dagestan, 11 percent of workers are unemployed; in Chechnya, 7.7 percent; in Karachayevo-Cherkessia, 7.2 percent, and in Kabardino-Balkaria, 4.8 percent.
    These republics also have far lower wages and salaries than other federal subjects of the Russian Federation; and the combination of high unemployment and low incomes is the major driver for the exodus of people from these republics to other parts of the country where they are often viewed and treated as aliens even though they all have Russian citizenship.