Alexander Khristoforov on wages, pension provision, and unemployment rate in the Vitebsk region
– Alexander Nikolaevich, what results have the region's social protection workers achieved by their professional holiday?
– Preliminary results indicate that 2020 was characterized by many positive trends in terms of labor relations and wages, employment, social protection and pension provision, and improvements in working conditions and labor protection.
As a result of all measures taken to ensure employment, a manageable situation has been maintained in the region's labor market. Over the past 11 months of 2020, the registered unemployment rate was 0.3% – it did not exceed the maximum permissible level in any district or city of regional subordination. As of December 1, the number of unemployed registered with our service was 1463 people. The number of vacancies declared by employers to the labor, employment, and social protection bodies of district executive committees was 6756, which is 4.6 times more than the number of unemployed.
539 citizens underwent training, 43 disabled individuals were adapted to work, temporary employment in the form of paid public works was provided to 2862 people, and 113 received subsidies for starting entrepreneurial activities. 27 families were relocated to new places of residence and work.
– One of the topics that concerns many is wages.
– The average monthly wage in the region for January-November 2020 increased by 13.7% compared to the same period in 2019, reaching 1036.8 rubles.
– Does the region still have reasons to be proud in the field of labor protection?
– All events planned for 2020 were completed ahead of schedule and in full. Organizations in the region spent over 22 million rubles on technical re-equipment and modernization of production facilities. Four months of safety were held in agriculture, mobile groups worked effectively, carrying out almost 3 thousand raids.
228 workplaces were brought into compliance with sanitary and hygienic standards, improving working conditions for more than 800 people. The region achieved one of the lowest levels of occupational morbidity in the republic. Thanks to the joint work carried out, there is a positive result in reducing fatal industrial injuries.
– Almost a third of the residents of the Vitebsk region are pensioners. Is the pension system functioning stably?
– Completely. Pensions are paid monthly on the established dates. Social benefits and supplements, as well as minimum labor pensions, were increased four times during the year due to an increase in the subsistence minimum budget per capita. By the decision of the head of state, labor pensions were recalculated twice due to an increase in average wages, as a result of which their average size at the end of the year increased by 11.9%. According to preliminary estimates, actual expenses for pension payments in 2020 amounted to over 1.8 billion rubles.
– What has been done over the past year to improve the quality of life for the elderly and people with disabilities?
– 25 territorial centers for social services for the population, 154 departments, 241 social points, and 5 branches are ready to provide all necessary daily assistance to incapacitated citizens in the Vitebsk region today. Importantly, it is available not only in cities but also in sparsely populated remote villages. And the range of social services is constantly expanding.
New forms of housing for the elderly have been introduced: more than 1.5 thousand people live in substitute or guest families, and co-housing facilities.
As part of a project with Germany, workshops and a dormitory for people with disabilities are being built in Lepel.
A center for receiving and transmitting messages to emergency and other city services from people with hearing impairments is successfully operating in Vitebsk.
Thermal renovation of two blocks has been completed at the Vitebsk boarding house. Reconstruction of canteens has been completed in Polotsk and Orsha. Over 1 million rubles have been allocated for capital repair work at the Babinichi boarding house.
In total, over 2.3 million rubles were directed towards strengthening the material and technical base of stationary social institutions last year.
Material assistance from state social security funds was paid to over 11 thousand citizens.
– What tasks are you setting for the committee and subordinate institutions for 2021?
– The task for the current year is to maintain the development dynamics of the entire social protection system and wage growth, and to ensure more effective employment of the population. We will improve the forms of social services.
Currently, the social and labor sphere is one of the most complex and multifaceted components of public life, affecting the interests of every person and every family, and greatly influencing the mood of the entire society.
The high results achieved in the social protection of the residents of the Vitebsk region are the result of the work of more than 6 thousand employees.
Taking this opportunity, I want to express words of gratitude and appreciation to all employees of the committee, departments for labor, employment and social protection of district executive committees, social service institutions for their dedicated work. And I wish them good health, happiness, and well-being.
In January-November 2020, within the framework of the State Program for Employment Promotion for 2016-2020, 14,914 people were employed in permanent jobs, including 6,531 unemployed.