Measures to ensure employment of the population were discussed today at the government session chaired by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov.

Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Population Tamara Duisenova, Akim of Kostanay Region Archimed Mukhambetov, and Chair of the Board of the Eurasian Group LLP Serik Shakhazhanov presented their reports.

According to the Minister of Labor Tamara Duisenova, demographic changes and the volatility of the world economy have affected the national labor market. The biggest change in this area is associated with the emergence of a new stream of labor.

“Today, a generation born after 2,000 is growing up. More than 300,000 young people enter the labor market every year. As a result, a new qualitative structure of the labor force is being formed. Millennials and Generation Z already make up 60% of the workforce today. By 2030, this figure will reach 80%,” said Duisenova.

This trend, the current difficult situation and potential challenges point to the need to revise the employment policy. The main task will be to increase the income of the population by providing quality jobs, and not just employment. To accomplish this task, in addition to ongoing activities, the Ministry of Labor proposes to intensify work in the following new areas.

The first priority is to attract young people to work. To this end, work has begun to ensure youth employment by holding online job fairs at large and medium-sized enterprises.

In May of this year, together with the ERG group of companies, an online job fair was held in pilot mode for graduates of educational institutions and young people under 35 years old. The company provided 350 jobs. During the week, 159 young people who met the requirements of the employer were selected and hired. Among them are representatives of all regions of the country.

The results of the pilot were discussed with the ministries of education, national economy, digital development, representatives of the enterprises of the mining and metallurgical complex, Samruk-Kazyna joint-stock company. As a result of the meeting, an agreement was reached that these companies will place 20 thousand vacancies on the electronic labor exchange, including in the field of IT and within the framework of the Aul El Besigi project.

The first online job fair will take place from 24 to 30 June. It will be held monthly and will provide:

• access for all Kazakhstanis without reference to the territory where the enterprise is located;
• transparency of the recruitment process;
• purposeful choice for the job seeker;
• the opportunity to carry out a qualitative selection for employers.

Employment in the framework of national projects.

According to local executive bodies, more than 269 thousand new jobs will be created this year within the framework of national projects.

Today, 691 enterprises have already placed more than 1,000 projects for 13,609 jobs on the electronic labor exchange. It contains not only qualification requirements, but also the amount of wages paid and a job description.

To date, the number of people who have responded to vacancies has exceeded 5,000, of which 1,000 people have been employed. The list of projects and vacancies will be updated in the future as these projects are ready.

“We support the overall recruitment process within the E-Exchange. Transparency and accessibility, the formation of a new culture of employment issues make it possible to fully inform our people about the initiatives taken by the state,” the head of the Ministry of Labor noted.

One of the most important areas of employment is the recognition and legalization of platform employment. Restrictive measures during the pandemic have given new impetus to the use of modern methods of employment around the world. Kazakhstan is no exception.

In addition, digitalization and new technologies affect the country's economy. In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of people employed in the service sector compared to the real sector.

According to expert data, platform employment in Kazakhstan reaches up to 500 thousand people. That is, people are busy through various kinds of online platforms, such as Yandex, Uber, Volt and Glovo. Undoubtedly, such a regime is very convenient for the population. However, its main drawback is the lack of social protection for employees.

In other words, if a person becomes unemployed or stops working due to pregnancy and childbirth, he will not be able to receive the necessary social payments from the State Social Insurance Fund. For your information, today more than 300 thousand mothers receive from this fund 100% of the previous average salary during pregnancy and 40% of the salary during childcare. In addition, 105 thousand unemployed are provided with up to 40% of wages for up to 6 months. In recent years, the issue of a significant increase in the size of these payments has been considered.

In this regard, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population held meetings with the main operators of online platforms to attract these citizens to the social protection system. Together with them, a decision was made to pilot coverage schemes from July 1, 2022. By the end of the year, the results of the pilot will be provided.

“Recognizing and legalizing platform employment, we strive to protect the labor and social rights of citizens while maintaining a favorable regime,” added Duisenova.

State support for employment and starting their own business by certain categories of citizens.

Including:

• allocation of state subsidies to institutions that create efficient and stable jobs for target groups;

This year, 100,000 such jobs are planned, for which 77 billion tenge has been allocated from the budget. According to local executive bodies, 84.4 thousand people have been involved in such work so far.

• support for entrepreneurial initiatives of socially vulnerable groups and youth;
• 25.8 billion tenge is provided from the budget to finance 20,000 such grants. To date, more than 1.4 thousand people have received grants.
• given the pace of technological development, the state pays constant attention to improving the skills and abilities of the workforce. In accordance with the requirements of employers, this year it is planned to train and retrain 36 thousand people. More than 9,000 people have already taken advantage of this opportunity;
• providing referrals to vacancies. This event is held on the basis of the Electronic Labor Exchange. This year the limit is 350,000, of which 91,000 people are employed in this way.

In general, the above measures of state support provide for the employment of more than 500 thousand people this year.

For the effective implementation of these measures, the central state authorities and local executive bodies should work actively. The ministry believes that the competent authorities should focus on establishing close relationships with each other and with employers, as well as with job seekers.

In the Kostanay region, the Regional Job Creation Map was approved, according to which, within the framework of national projects, about 32 thousand jobs are planned to be created in the period from 2022 to 2025, of which more than 10 thousand jobs are permanent. This was reported by the head of the region Archimed Mukhambetov.

“Employment measures will cover the unemployed and self-employed population of the region. In particular, much attention will be paid to youth employment,” the akim said.

This year, within the framework of the National Projects, it is planned to implement 295 projects for the construction, reconstruction, repair of industrial facilities, social infrastructure, housing, housing and communal services and transport infrastructure with the creation of 3,210 jobs.

Thus, within the framework of only one national project "Sustainable economic growth aimed at improving the welfare of Kazakhstanis", 9 investment projects are being implemented in the amount of more than 200 billion tenge. Thanks to these projects, taking into account the full launch of production, about 2.1 thousand jobs will be created, including 344 jobs are planned to be created this year. Currently, 111 jobs have been created.

For example, KamLit KZ LLP is building two factories for the production of auto components for trucks with a total cost of more than 160 billion tenge, where it is planned to create more than 700 jobs by the end of 2024.

Reconstruction of heating networks, water supply systems will reduce heat losses, accidents in heat supply networks for the stable passage of the heating season, provide residents of 66 villages of the region with high-quality drinking water.

During the implementation of housing construction projects, about 85 thousand square meters will be put into operation. m of social housing for 5 thousand people.

It is also planned to repair 314 km of local roads and 224 sections of settlements, which will ensure uninterrupted traffic and improve road safety.

In general, the implementation of national projects this year will provide employment for about 7 thousand people, of which 3,210 people will work on the implementation of infrastructure projects.

In fact, over 5 months of this year, 2,905 people were employed in the framework of national projects for created jobs, including 452 people on infrastructure projects, and 2,453 people on subsidized jobs.

“In general, 11,000 people have been assisted in the employment of 11,000 people in the region, including 3,000 young citizens who have been employed in permanent and temporary jobs, sent for vocational training, received grants for the implementation of new business ideas,” informed Mukhambetov.

As a result of the measures taken to ensure youth employment, the level of youth unemployment in the first quarter of this year decreased by 0.4 percentage points compared to the same period in 2021 and amounted to 2.8%.

Information on the availability of 1,866 vacancies in 175 projects has been posted on the Electronic Labor Exchange. Tender procedures are being carried out on 30 projects, contractors have not been identified. 71 people were employed for the declared vacancies.

Work on the placement of vacancies by employers on the Electronic Labor Exchange continues.

Explanatory work was carried out with all contractors on the need to post information about vacancies on the Electronic Labor Exchange. Employees of the employment service provide consulting and practical assistance.

The implementation of national projects will allow achieving a significant socio-economic effect.

According to Chair of the Board of ERG LLP Serik Shakhazhanov, in Kazakhstan, 27% of those working in industry are employed in the mining and metallurgical industry. In this regard, the Head of State invited representatives of large businesses to take an active part in the formation of human resources.

ERG enterprises in Kazakhstan are located in 5 regions. The Eurasian Group is one of the top three employers in the industry. Increasing the personnel potential and orientation of young people to professions in production has always been a priority for the company.

“We strive to develop technical specialists from the school bench,” said the head of the Eurasian group.

The ERG mektepke initiative, which the company is implementing as part of its social policy in Aktobe, Kostanay and Pavlodar regions, has yielded good results. The project is aimed at creating a new educational environment in 300 schools in the regions.

More than 50 memorandums have been signed on work with universities and TVE. In 2021, more than 2,000 students completed internships at enterprises, and more than 500 graduates were employed.

But ERG decided to go further and approach training strategically. Today, together with BTS Education, akimats, educational institutions and industrial enterprises of Pavlodar, Kostanay and Aktobe regions, the ERG for Colleges project is being implemented. Based on the Atlas of new professions, a map of 40 promising professions in the region has been developed. The project has already covered 805 students, and plans to increase coverage to 3,000 by the end of 2023.

From 2021, candidates without professional education can study on the basis of the ERG Unified Training Center in more than 700 special training programs and acquire professions or second specialties.

From June 2022, anyone can find a job at ERG on the Enbek.kz electronic labor exchange. To date, 159 young specialists have already been employed by the Group's enterprises.

This project turned out to be timely, since today there are about 1,000 vacancies in ERG in general, including those for extremely scarce professions — these are turners, electric fitters, electric and gas welders, foundry workers, blasters, etc. Taking into account the implementation of large strategic projects, by the end of 2023, it is planned to create an additional about 1,000 jobs.