26 January, Vitebsk /Olga Bogacheva - BELTA/. Budgetary loans allocated for the implementation of the State Programme for Employment Promotion of the Population of Belarus should be directed solely towards the creation of high-tech jobs. This was stated today at a meeting of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee by the First Deputy Chairman of the Regional Executive Committee, Vladimir Novatsky, as reported by a BELTA correspondent.
Significant funds are being directed towards job creation in the region. For instance, in 2011, the Regional Executive Committee allocated budgetary loans amounting to Br7.5 billion to employers for these purposes. However, in most cases, these resources are used inefficiently: outdated equipment and raw materials are purchased, resulting in work that essentially amounts to the creation of temporary jobs. Enterprises in Orsha and Senno districts were cited as examples. "If these funds were truly directed where they should be, all our enterprises would already be modernised. Instead, what happens is: they buy raw materials, and once they run out, the job is gone," stated Vladimir Novatsky. He emphasised the need to create high-performance jobs so that they exist for a long time and effectively, allowing people to earn high salaries.
Vladimir Novatsky drew the attention of the meeting participants to the necessity of creating comfortable working conditions for employees and working on this issue with employers. "We need to fundamentally review our attitude towards people. If we do not address this, we will not achieve our set goals," he stressed. According to him, considerable work is being done to implement the state programme for employment promotion, but shortcomings exist in every region of the oblast.
According to the data provided by the Chairman of the Committee for Labour, Employment and Social Protection of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, Alexander Khristoforov, the labour market situation in the region remained stable, controlled, and manageable in 2011. As of 1 January 2012, the unemployment rate stood at 0.8% of the economically active population and decreased by 0.1 percentage points compared to the same date in the previous year. The number of unemployed decreased by 20.3% and amounted to approximately 4.3 thousand people.
Over the past year, 50.1 thousand people applied to the labour, employment and social protection departments of city and district executive committees for assistance in employment, of whom 30.4 thousand people were registered as unemployed. Employment assistance was provided to 34.3 thousand citizens during the reporting period, including 21.2 thousand unemployed. 13.9 thousand people were involved in temporary employment in the form of paid public works, and temporary employment was organised for 6.4 thousand students. 107 families of unemployed people were relocated to rural areas to new places of residence and work. Assistance in organising entrepreneurial activities in the form of subsidies was provided to 523 unemployed people, with the total expenditure for these purposes amounting to Br1.6 billion. To enhance competitiveness in the labour market and meet employers' demand for personnel, over 3 thousand people were sent for vocational training and retraining. 4.9 thousand jobs were created in small towns of the region through all sources of funding. The number of employed people in the economy for January-November 2011 was 564.8 thousand people.
BELTA