The level of official unemployment in Kalmykia, according to the latest data from Rosstat, amounted to 8.8%. This is almost twice as high as the national average and in the Southern Federal District (SFD).

According to open statistics, the average unemployment rate in the Southern Federal District was 4.8%. At the same time, in Kalmykia, although it has slightly decreased, it remains quite high at 8.8%. According to this indicator, the federal republic entered the so-called top 10 Russian regions in unemployment.

The second place in terms of unemployment in the SFD is Adygea - 8.2%. The lowest official unemployment rate in the south is in the Rostov Region (3.8%), Volgograd (4.3%) and the Krasnodar Territory (4.6%).

"Such a high level of unemployment leads to an outflow of the population, especially young people, the mood in the republic becomes even more depressing," said Arslan Kusminov, chairman of the regional branch of the public organisation of small and medium-sized businesses Opora Russia and deputy of the People's Khural (Parliament) of Kalmykia.

The chairman called the ongoing anti-COVID restrictions one of the factors in the reduction of jobs. He added that to really reduce the unemployment rate, it is necessary to create new jobs, but the administration does not see any steps towards this.

“A separate issue is wages and their growth. Even state employees write about delays in payments on social networks. We are not talking about indexation; problems begin with the payments themselves. And this is with rising prices for almost all goods,” Kusminov added.

The average salary of employees of enterprises and organisations at the level of "specialist" and "leading specialist" in the North Caucasus Federal District decreased over the year by 5.19 euros or 1%. The North Caucasus Federal District is the only district in the country where the negative dynamics of salaries is noted.

The five federal republics of the North Caucasus are among the worst regions in Russia in terms of the proportion of the population earning wages below the state-established minimum wage.