Very few of my foreign acquaintances know that the guarantee of a first job is in force in Belarus. This envisages employment by the state for those who receive education, on account of the costs involved — irrespective of what educational establishment they attended: a university, college or a professional-technical institution. There’s no need to explain what this means for a young person who lacks experience.
To clarify, let’s turn to the statistics: in 2010, 91 percent of all university alumni were employed, in addition to 85 percent of graduates of secondary-special educational establishments and 79 percent of former professional-technical institution students. In 2015, the figures reached 94, 89 and 82 respectively. This is the number of those who actually got jobs — rather than a letter recommending a job (there were over 95 percent of these).
Accordingly, the number of employed people with higher or secondary special education is growing at 51.9 percent. In 2000, from 1,000 Belarusians in employment, only 412 were graduates or similar. The high level of education among employees is an advantage and source of competitiveness for Belarus, especially in the future.
The total number of those employed remains at 4.5m, or 47.5 percent of the population. 47 percent of these are aged 30-49. There is much potential for professional growth, in addition to the experience and qualifications already accumulated.
By Andrey Mukovozchik
