Kazakh Labour Ministry: How Enbek Programme deals with productive employment and mass entrepreneurship

Commerce, construction and agriculture are the sectors with the most number of new jobs created - 24 thousand, 18 thousand and 17 thousand respectively.

First Vice Minister of Labour Yerzhan Zhilkibayev stressed that Enbek Government Programme is key to productive employment and mass entrepreneurship as 190 billion tenge of budgetary funds have been provided as well as 1 million 200 thousand people have been employed since its adoption.

According to the first vice minister, 124 billion tenge is slated for this year as it is necessary to provide 700 thousand people with jobs.

He said that Enbek Programme includes short-term training courses on entrepreneurship, that has allowed for 3 thousand new jobs so far.

As for mass entrepreneurship, the first vice minister said that 84 billion tenge is envisaged as part of the Programme and 19 thousand persons should get jobs.

Microloans are presented in an effort to bolster entrepreneurship.

In early July, in order to support and facilitate to the employment-focused measures focused around low-income families, youth and persons with disabilities who are able to work 53 billion tenge has been provided to present 12 billion tenge worth free grants for implementing business ideas and undergoing training.

“Social jobs at home will be provided for mothers with many children and those brining up disable persons,” he said.

Employment Centers’ are about to be reformatted as they are switching to a proactive approach searching for and providing tailored support to those in need for employment and State support.

Mobile employment centers have already been piloting in several cities across the country.

“In May this year we [the Labour Ministry] have implemented an integrated base for creating new workplaces, allowing for a monthly monitoring of job creation by region, by sector, by specialty and by project,” said Yerzhan Zhilkibayev.

He also underlined that the collection of data on job creation switches from a paper to electronic format as it allows to see regions, sectors where quality jobs appear.

A national system for projecting labour resources is being developed that will be entitled with the task to assess the current and projected demand and supply for labor resources so as to train cadres for professions in demand.

In the wake of the common strategy for development of human capital, the Government has adopted three key documents. They include the legislative amendments, providing for certain measures, including the formalization of labour relations, that is, the rolling-out of compulsory e-labour contracts by 2020 within an information system.

This measure has already started in a pilot mode with over 17 thousand employers engaged and more than 70 thousand e-labor contracts entered the electronic system.

“Such efforts aim at the measures for expanding the participation of the citizens in labour relations and it is expected that this [electronic system] will enable to observe the number of people covered by labour relations, the type of work, working hours,” said Akmadi Sarbasov, the Vice Minister of Labour and Social Protection of the Population of Kazakhstan.

The next measure is a tightened administrative responsibility for creating decent working conditions for facilitating to even greater State control over employers, and primarily over the companies hiring foreign workforce.

The vice minister said that appropriate decisions to protect the national labour market are expected to be taken.

Another measure is work with trade unions as half of all paid-employees in Kazakhstan fall on them. In that context, there are some proposals largely aimed at the effective protection of the rights of workers, including labor safety measures.

He outlined that ensuring the health and preservation of life is of priority to the strategy for development of human capital amid a 7 per cent reduction in occupational injuries over the last three years.

The vice labour minister pledged to reduce occupational risks jointly with employers and trade unions.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the People has identified targets and measures in order to implement a modern system to manage occupational risks in the wake of the 5 years road map passed by the Government last month to ensure safe working conditions and cut down harmful jobs.

Author: Adlet Seilkhanov