Wage arrears have decreased by 5% – the Minister

In May, the amount of wage arrears in Ukraine, according to the current data, has been reduced by 5% and amounted to 954.6 million hryvnias.

This was disclosed during a briefing by the Minister for Social Policy Lyudmila Denisova, the UNIAN reported.

She also noted that the downward trend is observed in terms of unemployment too.

"Today, we have 460,000 registered unemployed persons and 368,000 people receiving unemployment benefits. The number of vacancies is 46-50 thousand," – the Minister said.

As reported, the arrears of wages in Ukraine in April fell by 10%, and at the beginning of May amounted to 1 billion hryvnia.

Wage arrears in Ukraine in March compared with that in February increased by 12.8% and amounted to 1.13 billion hryvnia. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in April compared with March remained unchanged, and as of May 1 amounted to 1.8%.

In absolute terms, the number of unemployed was 474,700 persons, of whom 375,700 received unemployment benefits. The average amount of benefit fell by 102 UAH – to 1,150 UAH.