VILNIUS — The increasing amount of unemployment, which has risen steadily to 13.7 percent since mid-2008 according to the central statistics bureau, is causing misery throughout Lithuania.

After Ignalina, the Vilnius region has the highest concentration of unemployed people in Lithuania followed by Akmenė, where a large amount of ethnic Poles live. Druskininkiai and Mažeikiai came in next. In Vilnius around 12,000 people, or 19 percent of the working-age population, are out of work according to statistics released from the Lithuanian Labor Exchange.

While its precipitous decline has ended, the Lithuanian economy is still far from a full recovery after being hit hard by the 2008 financial crisis. It is estimated that around 300,000 people will be jobless by the end of this year. The manufacturing and construction sectors, where many unskilled workers earned good wages, have been hit badly as both domestic and foreign demand for goods plummeted. While foreign demand is better, its still not fully recovered, either.

Some 58 percent of Lithuanians said in a survey that this is the worst financial situation they have ever found themselves in during their lifetimes. The terrible living conditions in the country have led to many fleeing abroad — there was more emigration in 2009 than ever before. Only 38 percent of respondents in the survey thought the country’s economic situation is improving.