The unemployed in Tiraspol will be hired for public works such as maintenance of green areas or repair of public buildings and facilities. The average monthly pay for such services will be 1000 Transnistrian rubles (some $110), Info-Prim Neo's correspondent in Tiraspol reports. “This program will help to ease the social tension caused by the company shutdowns and massive sackings”, explained Snejana Chernogor, the head of Tiraspol's employment agency. The official rate of unemployment in Tiraspol stood 0.9 percent in January. 400 new admissions were registered at the unemployment agency. In 2008, the official number of the unemployed was 13,000, four times the level of 2007. The specialists in the province blame this surge on the global economic slowdown, which affected much of the region's industry.