Labour Force
The Russian labour force is undergoing tremendous changes. Although well-educated and skilled, it is largely mismatched to the rapidly changing needs of the Russian economy. The unemployment rate in Russia was 8.1% as of 2009. Unemployment is highest among women and young people. Following the breakup of the Soviet Union and the economic dislocation it engendered, the standard of living fell dramatically. However, since recovering from the 1998 economic crisis, the standard of living has been on the rise. As of 2007 about 15% of the population was living below the poverty line, compared to 40% in 1999. The average yearly salary in Russia was $7,680 (about $13,800 PPP) as of May 2008, up from $455 per year in August 1999.
According to the FMS, as of 2011, there were 7,000,000 immigrants working in Russia. Half of these were from Ukraine, while the remainder was mostly from Central Asia. Only 3 million or less than half of all the immigrants are legal. Illegal immigrants number 4 million, mostly from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Moldova. The Census usually covers only a part of this population and the last one (2002 Census) counted one million non-citizens.
Read more about this topic: Demographics Of Russia
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“In the capsule biography by which most of the people knew one another, I was understood to be an Air Force pilot whose family was wealthy and lived in the East, and I even added the detail that I had a broken marriage and drank to get over it.... I sometimes believed what I said and tried to take the cure in the very real sun of Desert D’Or with its cactus, its mountain, and the bright green foliage of its love and its money.”
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