Labor activity has declined in all regions except for Tashkent, according to the Institute for Policy and Management Innovations.

The labor index has declined in all regions of Uzbekistan except for the capital, as reported by the Institute for Forecasting and Macroeconomic Research.

High index values were recorded in Tashkent, as well as in the Navoi and Tashkent regions. In these three areas, the unemployment rate is lower than the national average. In the capital, there are only 0.6 resumes per job vacancy, although the average monthly salary in Tashkent is significantly higher than the national average.

The Bukhara, Andijan, Fergana, Syrdarya, Khorezm, and Namangan regions fall into the middle group. The average monthly salary in these areas is at least 80% of the national average. There are 5.6 resumes for each vacancy here. The unemployment rate is 9.1%.

The Jizzakh, Samarkand, Surkhandarya regions, and Karakalpakstan are in the lowest position in the table. The unemployment rate there is 9.3%, with 17.4 applicants per job vacancy.

The most challenging situation is in the Kashkadarya region, where there is a high unemployment rate and low salaries (around 1 million sums). On average, there are nearly 17 people for each job vacancy.

According to IPMI, the reason lies in the growing popularity of electronic job search services. For example, in the National Job Vacancy Database (ish.mehnat.uz), the number of resumes has increased by 900 thousand compared to last year. Daryo.uz reported from the Institute that last year’s figures were better due to a lack of transparency in the labor market. This year, the number of registered job seekers on the Ministry of Labor's website stands at 1.2 million individuals.

Overall, the labor market situation in Uzbekistan is improving compared to the pandemic period, particularly with an increase in salaries, which grew by 121.3% in 2022 compared to 2021, and a decrease in unemployment by 0.7 percentage points, — adds IPMI.