The joblessness rate in Tighina (Bender) has increased five times, according to Svetlana Onufrienco, the head of the Bender employment center. 6,000 persons appealed to the employment center in Bender in the first half of this year. Officially, the center registered 3,000 persons out of work. 1,350 of these receive unemployment benefit, Info-Prim Neo’s correspondent in Tiraspol reports. After the Transnistrian authorities approved anti-crisis measures in April, the benefit was raised from 79 to 300 rubles (from 110 to 417 lei). The highest benefit is 500 rubles (694 lei). Under the anti-crisis program implemented in the Transnistrian region, the unemployed persons will be engaged in public works. But the residents of Bender do not seem to be very interested in these activities. Out of the 66 vacancies proposed by the town’s administration, only one third are filled, Svetlana Onufrienco said. Svetlana Onufrienco also said that the ratio of the unemployed to the vacancies in the town currently stands at 3,000: 400.