The Government publishes figures every six months showing how many people are unemployed.

publishes 是动词 publish 的第三人称单数现在时形式。publish 由词根 public（公共的）和后缀 -ish（使...）组成，原意是"使公开"，引申为"发布、公布、出版"的意思。在这里指政府定期"发布"统计数据。