Lietuva in brief - 2011-11-10

By Nov. 4, the Lithuanian Labor Exchange (LDB) had registered 214,400 jobseekers, a weekly increase of 3,900, reports ELTA. The registered unemployment rate accounts for 10.3 percent of the entire working age population. The rate of jobless youth under 25 accounted for 22.4 percent of all the registered jobseekers. From Oct. 28 – Nov. 4, territorial labor exchanges assisted in employing 4,400 jobless persons, which remained unchanged since the week before. Over the week, 2,900 job vacancies were registered. Active labor market policy measures were applied to 1,900 jobseekers, an increase of almost 800 over the week. Unemployment benefits were paid to 31,800 or 14.8 percent of the registered unemployed. The past week, 1,900 new unemployment benefits were assigned.

NATO jets scrambled into the air on Monday as four Russian air force planes flew provocatively close to the territory of the Baltic States, Lithuania’s Defense Ministry said, reports AFP. Defense Ministry spokeswoman Ugne Naujokaityte said that four Danish F-16 fighters, which currently police the skies of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, took to the air twice to escort the Russian planes onward. Two AN26 transport aircraft and a TU134 bomber flew in succession from Russia’s Baltic territory of Kaliningrad to Russia itself, and an IL20 intelligence-gathering plane flew in the opposite direction. While their path over neutral waters did not ultimately encroach on the Baltic States’ airspace, the flurry of flights was unusual in an area that normally sees only a few Russian aircraft every few weeks. “The intensity of these flights raises concern. It proves once again the necessity of the NATO air police mission in the Baltic States,” Naujokaityte said.