Aleksey Pesoshin: Legalization of the informal labour market is a matter of priority

On January 12, Tatarstan Prime Minister Aleksey Pesoshin took part in a meeting of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Protection of the republic to sum up the results of work in 2017 and set tasks for 2018. 

Making a keynote report at the meeting, Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Protection of the republic Elmira Zaripova said that Tatarstan holds a leading position among regions of the Volga Federal District in terms of wages, ranking second after the Perm Territory. For the period from January to November 2017, the average monthly wage increased by 6.3 per cent as compared to the same period last year and amounted to 31 thousand 563.7 roubles.

The Minister noted that a regional agreement to be signed between the parties on the social partnership will contribute to increasing the level of wages of low-paid categories of workers as it presupposes the approval of the minimum wage in non-budget organizations of the republic at the rate of 10,126 roubles per month (6.7 per cent more than the minimum wage in Russia).

She continued that during 2017 work was carried out in the republic to identify and reduce arrears in wages. In 2017, in cooperation with the prosecutor's office, 660 inspections were conducted, as a result of which 178 employers were identified who did not report to the statistics agencies. 

Speaking about the demographic policy, Zaripova reminded that, starting from the 1st of January, 2018, Russia will introduce a new type of social benefit for families in which the first child will be born. The benefit will be paid monthly until the first-born reaches one year and a half. It is forecasted that 4,600 families will receive the benefit amounting to 8,490 roubles a month in the republic.

As for the labour market, according to the results of 2017, a high level of employment was registered in the republic, which made 68 per cent (65 per cent in Volga Federal District, 66 per cent in Russia) and low level of general unemployment - 3.5 per cent (6th place in Russia). The share of highly qualified specialists increased by 16 per cent in 2017 as compared to the previous year, which is connected with the implementation of investment projects in the republic.

Zaripova noted that the Ministry is facing the task to employ 50 per cent of disabled people of working age by 2020.

As noted at the meeting, increasing the level of employment of the population, new opportunities for career growth and self-realization of citizens of different ages are the strategic initiatives of Vladimir Putin.

Speaking at the meeting, Pesoshin emphasized the need to provide the economy with professional personnel, while  the number of employable people tends to decline. According to the Prime Minister, one of the main ways to more efficient use of the workforce in the existing demographic conditions and a source of accelerating economic growth is to increase labor productivity. "With our joint efforts we need to implement a set of measures and activities aimed at encouraging enterprises to carry out effective reforms in the sphere of increasing labour productivity, developing industrial clusters, creating new high-performance jobs," he added.  

According to Pesoshin, one of the priority tasks for today is the legalization of the informal labour market: "In this regard, we need to continue  work aimed at reducing informal employment and monitoring that persons, who entered into employment contracts during the implementation of measures to legalize labour relations, remain at their workplaces."