The Moscow Times the data released by the Health and Social Development Ministry shows that the number of Russians set to lose their jobs amid the global financial crisis has reached half a million, jumping tenfold in less than four months.

The figures demonstrate how deeply the economic turmoil has penetrated into the real economy, affecting not only financial professionals, as was largely the case in October, but everyone from store clerks to construction workers.

As of February 18, the Health and Social Development Ministry had classified 496,600 workers as due for redundancy meaning job cuts notified to the government but not yet enacted.

Government data showed wages and real disposable income are also plummeting, while wages owed to workers have almost tripled since last year. Real wages fell 26.7% in January compared with December and 9.1%YoY compared to January of 2008. The State Statistics Service said at the same time, real disposable income dropped 45.7 percent month on month and 6.7%YoY.

The Health and Social Development Ministry's data showed that wage arrears had ballooned to nearly RUB 7 billion as of Feb. 1, 2 1/2 times higher than at the start of 2008.

The ministry, which presented its labor report on Tuesday, showed that some of the biggest regions of European Russia had been the worst affected, including Moscow and St. Petersburg.

(Sourced from The Moscow Times)