Decree #78, ‘On Measures to Enhance the Effectiveness of the Social and Economic Sector’, signed by the President at the end of February, aims to tackle employment issues. Recently, the Presidium of the Council of Ministers considered how this order has been so far executed.
Objectives have, overall, been achieved, according to statistics provided by the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection together with the National Statistical Committee. These indicate overachievement by at least 70 percent. Though, initially, it was planned to create new jobs for 8,920 people, in the first quarter, 15,824 workers gained new employment. According to the First Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection, Andrei Lobovich, around 9,000 jobs were created at new enterprises, and approximately 60 percent of these were with private companies.
Among the business spheres most often hiring people are those relating to industry, information technologies, wholesale and retail trade, and the service sector. Not all ministries and departments, or local authorities, have worked diligently. Among those not actively creating new jobs are Belneftekhim, and the Mogilev, Grodno and Minsk regional executive committees.
However, the Prime Minister, Andrei Kobyakov, has criticised employment figures, saying, “The process is primarily aimed at achieving a specific result: the suppression of negative trends on the labour market and the normalisation of personnel relations. The expected result is not yet achieved.”
Since there has been no visible effect in solving employment issues, we must look for reasons. The most obvious, according to Andrei Kobyakov, lies in the quality of jobs created. The Prime Minister believes that, in order to solve the employment problem, effective and much-in-demand jobs necessary for organisations are vital. Meanwhile, the President’s order to create 50,000 new jobs should not be implemented to the detriment of other measures aimed at improving the efficiency of enterprises.
By Alexander Benkovsky
Wider possibilities
Prospects for delivery of Belarusian equipment to Latin American countries discussed in Venezuela
Belarus’ Charge d’Affaires to Venezuela, Vladimir Grushevich, met the Minister for Basic, Strategic and Socialist Industries, Juan Arias, to discuss bilateral co-operation between Belarus and Venezuela. They looked at the manufacturing industry, including the operation of Belarusian-Venezuelan joint ventures assembling tractors and trucks, and a plant assembling road construction equipment from Belarusian kits. The parties also considered the localisation of production and delivery of assembled machinery to the other markets in the Latin America region.
By Alexey Fedosov
