Record decline in employment in Belarus

Employment is another paradox of the Belarusian economy in 2021. It is falling against the backdrop of economic recovery and rising wages.

For 9 months of 2021, the number of people in employment in the country has decreased by 46.5 thousand people (by 1.1%). This is the largest reduction for this period of the year over the past 5 years, infobank.by writes.

As a result, the number of people in employment has fallen to a record low for the entire history of statistics: 4 million 263.3 thousand people.

Over 10 years (September 2021 to September 2011), the number of employed people in Belarus has decreased by 407 thousand people. This is equal to the population of the whole regional center city.

The number of the working population in Belarus has been declining for many years in a row. In theory, this process was expected to have slowed down as a result of raising the retirement age – potential pensioners are still included in the number of employed people.

However, on the contrary, unemployment is accelerating. The decline in the employment rate is already approaching the level of the crisis years 2015 – 2016 when the economic fall and jobs cuts took place.

But now in Belarus we observe a financial and economic recovery, an increase in foreign trade, real GDP growth and the stability of the Belarusian ruble.

Against this background, the accelerated decline in employment can be explained, most likely, by the pandemic and emigration of the working-age population in connection with the political crisis.

 

Employment dynamics in Belarus (in mln people)