2019 saw 660 thou Kazakh citizens benefiting from employment promotion measures
The employment promotion measures in 2019 covered 660 thousand people, of whom unemployed made up 261 thousand or 40%, young people - 36%, low-income large families – 2%, says Yerzhan Zhilkibayev, First Vice Minister of Labour and Social Protection of Population of Kazakhstan, Strategy2050.kz reports with reference to the Ministry’s press service.
According to him, in 2019, 424 thousand new jobs were created, thus outperforming the annual plan by 14% higher, as well as the number of permanent jobs constituted 280 thousand, or 66%. In terms of types of economic activity, the largest number of jobs was created in the areas of: wholesale and retail trade - 44 thousand, executing construction - 43 thousand, agriculture, forestry and fisheries - 39 thousand. By region, the largest number of jobs was created in Almaty region – 48.1 thousand, Karaganda region - 32.5 thousand and Mangystau region - 32.5 thousand regions and in Almaty - 47.4 thousand.
Speaking of the results of the implementation of the Yenbek State program in 2019, he informed that active measures to promote employment had prevented the growth of unemployment and reduced its level from 4.9% in 2018 to 4.8% in 2019, including youth unemployment decreased by 3.8%.
“In 2019, 178 billion tenge was allocated to finance the State program, 660 thousand people were covered by measures to promote employment, of which 261 thousand or 40% were unemployed, 36% were young people and 2% were low-income large families. In total, in 2019, under the State program, 449 thousand people were employed, of which 383 thousand, or 85%, were employed full-time,” the vice minister said.
He went on to say that the first direction of the program provides for providing young people with technical and vocational education and improving the professional skills and qualifications of unemployed citizens through short-term courses.
“In 2019, 22 thousand young people were enrolled in lyceums and colleges to receive technical and vocational education. Participants in the State program are provided with a scholarship, one-time hot meals and financial assistance for travel. 57 thousand people (25 thousand unemployed, 17 thousand self-employed) were sent to short-term courses, of which 50 thousand people completed training. It should be noted that 75% of those who completed training are employed in permanent jobs,” the vice minister said.
The main objective of the second direction of the State program is the development of entrepreneurship of citizens. To this end, the Bastau Business project provides training in the basics of entrepreneurship and provides state grants in the amount of up to 100 and up to 200 MCI for free and non-refundable to applicants who are realizing and planning to realize a start-up business and who have not previously received financial support under other state programs. In addition, microloans are issued in rural and urban areas to start-up entrepreneurs with entrepreneurial potential, agricultural cooperatives and their members who have not reached retirement age, and peasant and farm enterprises.
The third direction of the State program includes the organization of social jobs, youth practice, public works, and also provides for the relocation of citizens from labour-surplus regions (Mangystau, Kyzylorda, Zhambyl, Almaty, Turkestan, Nur-Sultan), to labour-deficient (Pavlodar, Kostanay, Northern Kazakhstan, Eastern Kazakhstan regions).
He went on to say that under the instructions of the Head of State, the mechanisms for promoting employment under the state program “Enbek” were improved, the novelties have taken effect on 1 January 2020.
“To engage members of large and low-income families in entrepreneurship, microloans will be provided to them on favorable terms. So, the maximum amount of microcredit for them has been increased from 8 to 20 million tenge, with a term of 5 to 7 years and interest rates of up to 4% per annum (earlier - 6%),” he said.
In addition, a uniform size of state grants for all categories of the population is set up - 200 MCI. At the same time, members of large and low-income families have the right to receive grants without prior training.
“To increase efficiency, short-term vocational training will be carried out at the request of employers, guaranteeing the employment of trained persons. For the first time, a mechanism has been introduced to independently obtain a working specialty by providing a training voucher,” he said.
The state support measures for youth were revised and two new tools were additionally developed: the First Workplace and Generations Contract projects.
