In the Vitebsk region, the unemployed are going into business, and salaries are growing faster than in other regions. Alexander Khristoforov spoke about the labor market situation
– Alexander Nikolaevich, what marks the jubilee in the work of the committee, departments, and 40 subordinate institutions of the region's social protection system?
– Summarizing the preliminary results of the year, we can note positive trends in terms of social and labor relations and wages, employment, social protection and pension provision, and improvement of working conditions and labor protection.
This is confirmed by the projected situation in the labor market. Here are a few figures. The registered unemployment rate in the region as of December 1 last year was 0.4% (a decrease of 0.3% compared to the same period in 2017).
In all districts and cities of regional subordination, it did not exceed the maximum permissible level. According to data as of December 1, there were 40% fewer unemployed people (2179) registered with the labor, employment and social protection authorities than on this day in 2017.
The number of vacancies declared by employers to the labor, employment and social protection authorities of district executive committees at the beginning of December was 6.7 thousand, which is more than three times the number of unemployed.
Thanks to the implementation of subprogram 1 "Employment Promotion" of the State Program for Social Protection and Employment Promotion for 2016-2020, in January-November last year, 21.3 thousand people found permanent jobs, of which more than half were unemployed.
Over a thousand people underwent training, and 4.5 thousand were provided with temporary employment in the form of paid public works.
Assistance in organizing entrepreneurial activities with the allocation of subsidies was provided to 183 unemployed individuals.
46 families of unemployed people have moved to new places of residence and work. Adaptation to labor activities has been organized for 45 people with disabilities. According to preliminary data, 6.2 thousand people were employed last year through the creation of new production facilities and enterprises.
– If there is work, there should be a salary. What is it like in the region today?
– The Vitebsk region ranks second in Belarus in terms of real wage growth rate, which reached 113.3%.
The average monthly wage for January-November last year increased by 18.7% compared to 2017 and amounts to 803 rubles, including 838 rubles in November. However, we cannot rest on our laurels; we all have serious work ahead of us in this regard.
– The health of employees is one of the most important indicators that determine the quality of labor resources, labor productivity, and the demographic situation. What is changing for the better in this regard?
– The incidence of occupational diseases in the Vitebsk region is one of the lowest in the country. A number of management decisions have been made to ensure comprehensive and systematic work on labor protection in the region.
Planned activities are being carried out ahead of schedule. In the first 9 months of last year alone, over 25 million rubles were spent on technical re-equipment and modernization of production facilities.
Months of labor safety were held in agriculture, construction, and industry, and mobile groups conducted over 3,000 raids. All this made it possible to bring 454 workplaces with harmful or hazardous working conditions, employing 750 people, into compliance with sanitary and hygienic requirements, and to improve working conditions for 765 people.
– Almost a third of the region's residents (338.4 thousand people) are pensioners. The amount and timeliness of pension payments are important for them. Are there any reasons for concern for the grandparents on a well-deserved rest, as well as for people with disabilities, in this regard?
– Pensions in the Vitebsk region are paid on time. Four times last year (February 1, May 1, August 1, and November 1), minimum labor and social pensions, as well as supplements to them, were increased due to the growth of the subsistence minimum budget per capita.
By the decision of the head of state, due to the growth of average wages, labor pensions were recalculated three times (May 1, August 1, and November 1), as a result of which their average size increased by 24.2% by the end of the year. According to preliminary estimates, the actual expenses for pension payments in our region last year will amount to 1476 million rubles.
– One of the goals of the social service is to improve the quality of life of lonely and elderly people living alone, and to care for people with disabilities. What has been done for them during the reporting period?
– More than 900 thousand rubles of budget and extra-budgetary funds were spent solely on strengthening the material and technical base of stationary social institutions (boarding schools, round-the-clock care units, shelters).
Reconstruction and major repairs of facilities in three institutions continued, and thermal rehabilitation of walls was carried out at the Vitebsk boarding house. The range of one-time services provided by territorial centers for social services for the population is expanding both in urban and rural areas.
More than 15 thousand lonely pensioners and disabled people received home assistance.
More than 15 thousand people received material assistance from state social insurance funds, and more than 40 thousand people who found themselves in difficult life situations and needed additional social support. 4 thousand children in the first years of life were provided with free food.
– Judging by the results, the activities of the regional social system, which employs more than 6,000 workers, are in high demand.
– This obliges us to be professionals and to work conscientiously. In connection with the holiday and the anniversary, I want to express words of gratitude to all colleagues. In the new century of our rich departmental history, we will continue to improve social services and provision, strive for the benefit of the residents of the Vitebsk region, and strictly support the socially oriented policy of the state.