User:Hannahshipman/sandbox2

= Edit 3 = Main page link: Minsk. Several sections were copied from the original and edited; compare with respective sections and first paragraph.

Page for Museum of Jewish History (in progress): User:Hannahshipman/Museum of Jewish History and Culture in Belarus.

Industry
Minsk is home to a growing IT network, perhaps relating to its status as a sister city to the Indian city Bangalore, which is a successful center of IT outsourcing. Minsk currently has a well-established IT sector, with the country's totals growing from approximately 3,000-3,500 software engineers and US$90 million outsourcing revenue in 2004 to 34,000 tech specialists and US$1 billion in 2017. Most of this is in Minsk, where the majority of Belarusian IT companies are founded and about 76% of the country's IT specialists are trained. Major IT companies in Minsk include EPAM Systems, IBA Group, Wargaming (creator of MMO game World of Tanks ), Viber Media, and Itransition; several of these are resident companies of the Belarus Hi-Tech Park.

Unemployment
In the 2009 census in Minsk, "5.6% of the working-age population identified themselves as unemployed," (specialist Svetlana Leonchik, as reported by the Belarusian news site Naviny.by). Official statistics for unemployment in the city of Minsk decreased from 4.6% in 2016 to 3.8% in 2017 of the total population aged between 15 and 74. The government disbursement of unemployment benefits is very low (70,000 BYR ≈ $7 per month), and the city is considering raising the rate, as well as implementing obligatory public works.

Government and administrative divisions paragraph
As the capital and largest city of Belarus, Minsk has a special administrative status. It is the administrative centre of Minsk Region (voblasć) and Minsk District (rajon). Minsk is also the administrative capital of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and seat of the Executive Secretary. The city of Minsk contains over one-fifth of the country's population (20.4% of the total, in 2016), and exerts an increasing political dominance in proportion to the rest of the country. The Minsk city government is composed of an executive branch, the Minsk City Executive Committee, and a representative body, the Minsk City Council of Deputies.

Historical Administration Status
Starting in 1569, it was a capital of the Minsk Voivodeship, in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was included in the region annexed by the Russian Empire in 1793, as a consequence of the Second Partition of Poland. From 1919 to 1991, after the Russian Revolution, Minsk was the capital of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, in the Soviet Union.

Theatres

 * The State Puppet Theatre of the Republic of Belarus

Museums

 * Museum of Jewish History and Culture in Belarus

External Resources

 * Ideological Recycling of the Socialist Legacy. Reading Townscapes of Minsk and Astana
 * Becoming Socialist Jews: the Bolshevik Experiment
 * A new look for the city of Minsk (Short article)