Irina Kostevich: We survived, we preserved the teams and prevented the growth of unemployment

Last year, about 4 million 300 thousand people were employed in the Belarusian economy. Such figures are provided by the statistics. And this is a little less than half of the total population of the country. Almost a quarter of them work in industry, about 15% in trade and services, followed by education, agriculture and healthcare. 

In general, the situation in the labor market, despite the difficulties of the pandemic and sanctions, was stable. The unemployment is low, according to estimates of the International Labor Organization. 

According to the Labor Minister Irina Kostevich, there has been an increase of involuntary part-time employment and downtime over the past two months (March-April). The ministry switched to weekly monitoring, special headquarters were created to immediately notice the problem at a particular enterprise, to quickly get involved in solving it, to help people who are losing income. "There are opportunities today," the head of the department said. This is a temporary transfer to another employer, where there are orders today, and temporary employment - seasonal field work.”

The employment in the economy in January, February and March is holding steady at 4,245,000 to 4,246,000. There is an internal brain drain. According to the latest information, about 239,000 people found new jobs during the first quarter of 2022, while 244,000 people lost their jobs. "We see labor turnover. There is an employment service in every district," said Irina Kostevich. - If a person is interested in being assisted in finding a job, in writing a CV, in finding a contact with an employer, then people come to us.” 

 The Employment Service helped to employ more than 20 thousand people in the first quarter of the year. The state has created a nationwide bank of vacancies, which now has 92 thousand job vacancies. According to the Minister, the service of high quality allows finding a job quickly and there are private employment agencies to help. Their number is also increasing. Today there are more than 200 of them. Most of them are concentrated in Minsk, as Minsk is an attractive labor market, said Irina Kostevich. 

Support for citizens

"We need to quickly and promptly respond to what is happening in the country's economy today and restructure our business," thinks the head of the department. - "We have entered into a dialogue with trade unions, understanding that this is our main social partner.” 

There is a draft law "On Amendments to the Labor Code," which provides amendments to the Labor Code. According to the Minister, the issues of the employer and the person, the issues of income and most importantly the preservation of labor collectives, are being solved. 

Today the employer has to notify the employee a month in advance if there are any significant changes in working conditions according to the Labor Code. But in current conditions a month is a long time, a proposal was made to cut it to 7 days, with the exception of a reduction in wages.