KHUJAND, March 2, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- According to official data, unemployed now constitute 2 percent of the economically active population of the Sughd province.

According to the Sughd agency for statistics, as of December 31, 2008, 14,800 residents of the province have been officially registered as unemployed.

“The overwhelming majority of jobless in the region are people without professional training that makes placing them n jobs difficult.  They constitute 68.9 percent (10,200 people) of the overall number of the officially registered  jobless in the region,” said the source at the agency for statistics, “46.1 percent of them are school leavers.”

Women have constituted 56.8 percent (8,400) of the overall number of the registered jobless and young people aged 15 to 29 – 60.1 percent (8,900), the source said.

However, local experts assume that the actual number of jobless in northern Tajikistan is much higher than the official data shows.