Russia’s unemployment rate at fresh record low of 2.6%

The jobless rate in the Russian Federation has decreased to a fresh record low of 2.6% in April from 2.7% in March, the latest data by the Federal State Statistics Service showed.

The drop was mostly a result of labor shortages of skilled workers due to the emigration and mobilization of men for the military conflict in Ukraine.

A year ago, the jobless rate in the country stood above 3%.

Meanwhile, corporate profits surged 11.9% year-on-year to RUB 6.65 trillion during the first quarter of the year.

Roughly 40,200 Russian companies made profits totaling RUB 8.969 trillion in Q1, or a 12.7% increase from a year ago, the data showed.

And, about 17,800 Russian organizations registered losses totaling RUB 2.320 trillion in Q1, or a 14.8% increase from a year earlier.

The Russian Ruble was last 0.63% stronger on the day against the US Dollar, with the USD/RUB currency pair trading at 88.4880.

The exotic currency pair was hovering above an 18-week low of 87.4690, which it registered on May 28th.