News & Events in Belarus

MINSK, 21 November (BelTA) – The Belarusian government should come to understand that every person should have the opportunity to work. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko made the statement after the central government, the central bank, the oblast administrations, and the Minsk city administration delivered their reports on the national economy’s performance so far this year, evaluations of this year’s results, the draft social and economic development forecast, the draft budget, and the draft monetary management policy for 2018, BelTA has learned.

Alexander Lukashenko stressed: “We should come to feel that every person should have the opportunity to get employed.”

“I believe that people are ready to do any work today. Yes, 10% are on the watch list of [Interior Minister Igor] Shunevich and other agencies. We work with them, giving them a bit of tough love. But those, who want to work, need help with getting jobs and getting paid. Therefore, let’s get down to it,” said the president.

Besides, the head of state pointed out that Belarusians need not just jobs, they need to earn well. He reminded about his instruction to raise the country’s average salary up to Br1,000 by the end of the year. “I don’t want to hear anything else from you. Failing to reach this goal will cost dearly for the government,” warned Alexander Lukashenko.

The president admitted that there will be more public holidays at the beginning of 2018, people will work less and may get paid less than the planned figure. “But later on, in Q2, Q3, Q4 2018 we should exceed Br1,000 at least a bit,” said the head of state.

It is necessary to raise the country’s average income primarily by raising salaries for those citizens, who are paid less than the average, noted Alexander Lukashenko. “Here is a task for you. God forbid you fail to fulfill this task. If you fail, you will be made answerable,” stated Alexander Lukashenko.

“Start implementing my instructions. If you can’t, quit. Your job is to carry out these instructions. Moreover, I demand nothing extraordinary from you. I want people paid reasonably well. It is what the government has to do,” he stressed.

Prime Minister of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov informed that virtually 50,000 jobs were created in January-September 2017, including 48,000 jobs at newly established enterprises. “Early this year the government set out to create 70,000 jobs. We are a bit behind the target, 2,500 jobs behind the target in January-September 2017,” said Andrei Kobyakov.

The prime minister stated that the number of employed Belarusians dropped by 54,000 people in that period. According to statistics, the number of able-bodied citizens went down by 25,500 and the number of employed pensioners decreased by 28,500 as well. “So, things seem to be in balance,” noted the Belarusian head of government.

In turn, Chairwoman of the National Statistics Committee Inna Medvedeva stressed that the employment situation remains complicated. A pilot population census in Molodechno confirmed it. Peculiarities of Molodechno District may be to blame for it.

Head of the Belarus President Administration Natalya Kochanova confirmed that Belarus citizens are concerned about employment. “We see it is the central issue that worries residents of our country these days. The situation varies from region to region, but it does exist and we cannot keep calm about it,” she was convinced.

Speaking about the fulfillment of the instructions on raising salaries, Andrei Kobyakov remarked that in January-September the real salary in the country increased by 3.8% in comparison with last year, which is slightly ahead of the labor productivity growth. “It is not so good. But we should not worry too much about it. Such a thing was only to be expected. We can explain it. The correlation evolved only because decisions were made to raise salaries in the state administration sector and the public sector,” explained the prime minister.

In the real sector labor productivity growth is ahead of the growth of salaries by 1%. In September 2017 the nominal salary increased by Br110 or 15% up from January 2017 to Br831. “After those decisions were made, the nominal salary in public sector organizations rose by 13%. We are behind the schedule of raising the average salary up to Br1,000 by the end of the year. We were Br25.4 or 3.1% behind in January-September,” said Andrei Kobyakov.