At the end of the second quarter of 2026, the unemployment rate in the Russian Federation remained at an extremely low level and amounted to 2.2%.
The leaders in the rating of regions of the Russian Federation in terms of unemployment rates were the Nizhny Novgorod and Kaluga regions, where the unemployment rate was less than 1%.
The highest unemployment rate is observed in the republics of the North Caucasus, and Ingushetia closes the ranking, where the unemployment rate was 22.6%.
MOSCOW, September 14 – RIA Novosti. The Nizhny Novgorod and Kaluga regions topped the ranking of Russian regions in terms of unemployment rates, with Ingushetia and Dagestan closing the list, according to a RIA Novosti study.
Decrease in unemployment
In 2026, the unemployment rate in the Russian Federation remains at an extremely low level. At the end of the second quarter, the unemployment rate, according to Rosstat, was 2.2%. Compared to the same period last year, the value of the indicator has not changed. Overall, the unemployment rate has been less than 3% since the end of 2023. The number of unemployed in the second quarter of 2026 compared to the second quarter of last year decreased by 9.8 thousand people (-0.6%). At the same time, the time required to find a job has increased slightly.
According to Rosstat, Russians spent an average of 5.5 months searching for work in the second quarter of 2026, and a year earlier this period was 5.2 months. At the same time, the share of citizens in a state of stagnant unemployment, that is, those who have been looking for work for a year or more, increased from 12.1% to 13.2%.
Against the backdrop of continued demand for labor, unemployment fell in the second quarter of 2026 in most regions. However, in most regions it was less than 3%. To assess the situation from a regional perspective, RIA Novosti experts prepared a rating of regions of the Russian Federation by unemployment rate based on the results of the second quarter of 2026.
Leaders and outsiders of the rating
The leaders in the rating were the Nizhny Novgorod region and the Kaluga region, where the unemployment rate was less than 1%. In the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Khabarovsk Territory, Novgorod Region and the Republic of Khakassia, unemployment was 1%. In total, in sixteen regions the unemployment rate was below 1.5%.
According to the results of the second quarter of 2026, in 55 regions, unemployment was below the all-Russian level, and in four more constituent entities of the Russian Federation, unemployment corresponded to the all-Russian level. Thus, the unemployment rate was higher than in the country as a whole in 26 regions, of which in two the unemployment rate exceeded 10%. The highest unemployment rate is observed in the republics of the North Caucasus, and Ingushetia closes the ranking, where the unemployment rate was 22.6%.
Compared to the second quarter of 2025, unemployment decreased in 51 regions. The most noticeable decrease occurred in Ingushetia, where the decrease was 3.4 percentage points, Kabardino-Balkaria (-1.3 percentage points) and Chechnya (-1.2 percentage points).
An increase in unemployment was recorded in 20 regions. It increased most significantly in the Sverdlovsk (+1.2 p.p.), Kemerovo regions (+0.7 p.p.), Moscow (+0.5 p.p.) and in the Primorsky Territory (+0.5 p.p.). In 14 constituent entities of the Russian Federation, the indicator remained at the same level.
Job search time
The average job search time by region in the second quarter of 2026 ranged from just over a month to more than ten months. The shortest period of job search (less than two months) is in the Saratov region, Astrakhan region, the Republic of Kalmykia and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
The longest period of job search was recorded in the Jewish Autonomous Region (10.7 months), the Republic of Dagestan (8.7 months) and the Pskov Region (8.5 months). In total, in 23 regions the average time to find a job exceeds six months.
